Mount View Asylum Wall

• The treatment of mental illness in New Zealand has a long, if often hidden, history. The earliest known home for ‘lunatics’ was a wooden building attached to the Wellington gaol in 1844 but it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that mentally ill people were not simply held alongside drunks, vagrants, and criminals. As awareness increased that the mentally ill needed special attention, and that their care was not really appropriate for a gaol, a public demand developed that they be housed separately in an asylum, separate from gaols and ordinary hospitals. 
  
  

  The first legislation providing for those suffering mental illness was passed in 1846. The ‘Lunatics Ordinance’ stated that after certification a mentally ill person could be sent to a gaol, house of correction, or public hospital; or alternatively to a public colonial asylum. Although the latter did not exist at the time, this legislation represented a step forward in the development of special services for the mentally ill. In 1852 the Constitution Act placed the responsibility for health services on the Provincial Governments, and between 1854 and 1872, a network of asylums were established throughout the country. These small purpose-built asylums were set up with the intention of providing better care for mentally ill people with a minimum of physical restraint – however, these facilities were mainly staffed by people who had no medical training. 

  
  Following the abolition of the Provincial Government in 1876, the social services of the country were reorganised and the Lunacy Department was established as a department of state bringing asylums under central control. General hospitals and charitable institutions which had a lot of public support passed into local control at this time, and with local funding came the power to pass by-laws that could be used to deny admission to the mentally ill. People who were ill therefore had no choice but to seek admission at the asylums that had to accept them, and by the mid 1870, the clientele of the asylums had changed from admitting acute and recoverable cases to mostly long term chronic cases. The situation worsened towards the 19th century due to the effects of the depression, lack of social welfare, and the consequences of an aging immigrant and mostly male population. Those suffering the effects of alcohol and syphilis that had no one to care for them and nowhere else to go would enter the asylum and never leave. Public views of the asylums were also affected by the expectation that medical control of the institutions would lead to more recoveries. 
  
  Asylums had also become terminal institutions for the incurable as well as therapeutic places for the acutely ill, and because all mental illness was treated only within asylums overcrowding became a major issue. At this time public perception of asylums changed from one of sympathy to one of fear and withdrawal, as a result tighter security was demanded and the use of mechanical restraints and custodial care re-emerged.
  
  Wellington has had a number of permanent asylums, primarily The Karori Asylum (1854-1873), The Wellington Lunatic Asylum: Mount View (1873-1910), and The Porirua Lunatic Asylum (1887-1990s). The Mount View Asylum was opened on 22 May 1873 with Dr Charles France as Medical Officer. The asylum was constructed on the portion of the town belt that is now occupied by Government House. Between 1873 and 1875 the grounds were levelled and an approach was constructed from Adelaide Road by prisoners from the Wellington gaol who had been sentenced to hard labour. The building was designed by architect Christian Julius Toxward who was later to design Wellington Public Hospital at Newtown. The original two storey structure became the central portion of the building when it was later enlarged by the addition of two wings. 

  
  It can be assumed that the wall was constructed at the same time as the buildings. The wall is constructed in brick with a cement rendered gate at the centre, is about three metres high and ten metres long. The bricks are distinctive to the gaol located on The Terrace, and some of the bricks feature the distinctive arrow motif used to signify Crown property. Some additional historic graffiti is present on the bricks, probably created by the men laying the bricks and is mostly made up of names and pictures. The precise function of the wall is unclear, but it appears to have served as a retaining wall, which explains the rake of the wall which required the bricks to be laid on a shallow angle. For most of the length there is earth piled up from the slope rising behind the wall that follows the original contour of the slope. The central section of the wall has been modified where the sloping contour has been excavated to form a path that runs from the gate up the ridge behind. The edge of the northern section of the wall appears unfinished, suggesting that this part has been demolished. It also appears that there may have been a porch over the entrance to the gateway that is now missing. The contour of the land immediately behind this stretch has also been altered, as some earth has been removed for the landscaping of the rose garden.    
  
  By 1905 the number of patients at Mount View reached 250 and for variable periods it was closed to new admissions which were sent to Porirua. In May of 1910, the remaining patients at Mount View were transferred to Porirua, Christchurch, and Seacliff asylums following the site being chosen as the location for the new Government House and the asylum was demolished to make way for the new building.

    
  The Asylum Wall is now the only remnant of the Mount View Asylum that once occupied this site and is a physical link to the history of the area. The wall appears to have no significant cracking or subsidence and has technical value as a well built, authentic example of brick wall construction. 

This wall is the only physical remnant of the Mt View asylum that once occupied this site. It is associated with the history of mental illness in New Zealand and its treatment. 

Although part of the wall has been demolished, it retains significant original materials and has had few alterations made. It has authenticity of materials, craftsmanship, and design.  

• District Plan Number

  6/10

• Legal Description

  Secs 1250, 1362 (SO 33757), Pt Sec 1394 and 1395 (SO 32412)

• Heritage New Zealand Listed

  2/Historic place 1407

• Archaeological Site

  Te Ranga a Hiwa Precinct and Pre:1900 construction

• Current Uses

  unknown

• Former Uses

  unknown

• Has building been funded

  No

• Funding Amount

  Not applicable

• Earthquake Prone Status

  Unknown