Queen Mary Hospital Chisholm Block

Built in 1916, the Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs initially operated as a convalescent home for soldiers injured in World War One, utilizing the medical benefits believed to be obtained from bathing in the nearby thermal waters. The hospital later became a treatment centre for those with functional nervous disorders, and later an internationally recognized facility for the treatment of drug and alcohol dependencies up until 2003.The ownership of 5.1 hectares of the Queen Mary Hospital was passed from the Canterbury District Health Board to the Department of Conservation in 2008, where it was subsequently vested in the Hurunui District Council as an historic and recreational reserve. The 5.1 hectare site contains the hospital’s three oldest buildings and was registered as category one site by the Historic Places Trust in 2005. These three buildings are the ‘Soldiers Block’, built in 1916, the ‘Chisholm Block’, built in 1921 and the Nurses Hostel which was added to the hospital in 1927.