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Former Larundel Mental Hospital

Location

Plenty Road,, PRESTON VIC 3072 - Property No B7024

File Number

B7024

Level

Regional

Statement of Significance

Administration, Hospital, Dining/kitchen block, Boiler House, four male Wards to the South, three female Wards to the north, early drives and associated landscaping.
The early buildings and layout of the former Larundel Mental Hospital, developed between 1938 and 1949, designed by State Government Chief Architect Percy Everett, is significant at the Regional level for its site plan, architectural design, and historical and social associations.
The layout of the Larundel Hospital is notable for its complex angled geometric arrangement. The plan is symmetrical and relatively formal, but the angled layout, combined with prominent, Tudor style roofs and upper floors, creates a complex that has multiple interesting vistas, accentuated by the driveways that curve around and between the buildings.
The Tudor Revival stye of the buildings is executed in a stylised manner, that achieves effect from the prominent roofs, and the numerous (usually symmetrical) projecting wings and gables, and the finely detailed pattered brickwork, a feature of much of Everett's work. This is one of the very few buildings designed by Percy Everett during his tenure as the State's Chief architect that was not designed in a modernist style, possibly in order to provide a more 'homely' atmosphere for the patients.
Historically, the Larundel Hospital buildings are significant as the only major mental institution to be developed in the mid 20th century, and was the last to be developed, and the last of the older institutions to close.
Socially, Larundel was one of the most well-known mental institutions in Victoria. Unlike other institutions for chronic cases, hidden on large estates, or in the country, Larundel is visible from Plenty Road, and was often the first port of call for those diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness.
Classified: 08/11/1999

See also B6647, B6660, B6789, B2418, B6794, B6937, B6938, B6939, B4042

Group