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Farm Worker's Block & Idiot Ward - Former Mont Park Asylum

Location Wattle Avenue,, MACLEOD VIC 3085 - Property No B6939 File Number B6939 Level State

[1/1] B6939 Farm Workers Block

Statement of Significance

The Farmworkers Block and Idiot Block, completed in 1912 and 1914 respectively, and designed by S. Brittingham, Chief Architect PWD, are of Regional historic, social and architectural significance.
Historically, the former Farmworkers Block and Idiot Block are significant as the earliest buildings of what eventually became the Mont Park Lunatic Asylum, the most advanced and largest mental institution of the early 20th century.
They also demonstrate the new therapeutic model for mental patients, involving fresh air and farm work, which was developed by Dr W. E. Jones, head of the Victorian Lunacy Department from 1905 to c.1940. Dr Jones pioneered the major reform of the treatment of mental paitents in Victoria, moving patients gradually from incarceration (mainly in large 19th century asylums) into a therapeutic and medical model.
The original buildings are architecturally significant for their "pavilion" layout, arranged in a formal manner that surrounds a pair of rear airing courts. The style of the buildings is in a simple roughcast Edwardian style, typical of the Public Works department of the period. Developed with projecting bays, attached timber verandahs and walkways, and overhanging eaves, the complex is formal, yet spacious and picturesque.
Classified: 03/08/1998

See also B6647, B6660, B6789, B2418, B6794, B6937, B6938, B7042, B7024