Attunga, Toorak Gardens
Attunga was a mansion which now forms part of Burnside Hospital, in Toorak Gardens, South Australia.
History[edit]
The mansion was designed by Frederick William Dancker[a][2] for Benjamin Burford in 1900. It was built on 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) at 120 Kensington Road, in what was then Rose Park, (an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia). Containing 14 rooms, the two-storey house is the largest and most extravagant mansion built in the area that became known as the suburb of Toorak Gardens.[citation needed]
With Burford's death in 1905,[citation needed] the property was bought by an investor from Broken Hill, Otto Georg Ludwig von Rieben.[b] While maintaining and paying particular attention to the property, von Rieben eventually settled at "Pomona" at Mt Lofty in the Adelaide Hills.[3]
In August 1943, a committee of Burnside Council suggested building a community hospital as part of the council's Post-War Reconstruction and Development Plan. In November 1943, the council adopted the committee's recommendation to spend up to £100,000 on the building of a hospital, which was intended to be the district's principal memorial to honour Burnside's war dead.[4] In 1944, almost 40 years after he purchased it, and having lived in it for 37 years, Von Rieben (then aged 82) offered Attunga to the Burnside Council free of charge, for use as a hospital, with the stipulation that the house and gardens be preserved.[5] In February 1944, Mayor P.R. Claridge announced von Rieben's donation. The council subsequently unanimously accepted the donation.[4]
By April 1949, the first stage of the conversion of the mansion had been completed, with Attunga having been converted into a convalescent hospital caring for 21 patients. When it closed in September 1956 it had cared for over 1,400 patients. In October 1956, the adjacent new 45-bed Burnside War Memorial Hospital, built at a cost of £145,000, was opened.[4][6]
Current use[edit]
Since March 1989 the mansion has been used as the "Attunga Medical Centre". In the 21st century, the mansion and its well-kept formal gardens continue to occupy nearly all of the western half of the original 4.5 acres (1.8 ha), with multi-story hospital buildings covering most of the eastern half of the original area.[citation needed]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ Dancker also designed the Queen Victoria Hospital, St Paul's Lutheran Church at Hahndorf, and the Malvern Uniting Church.[1]
- ^ Von Rieben is also the name of a noble family from Mecklenburg, Germany; see: de:Rieben (Adelsgeschlecht) (in German)
References[edit]
- ^ "7-27 Adare Avenue VICTOR HARBOR". The South Australia Heritage Places database. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ "Architect Details: Dancker, Frederick William". Architect Details. University of South Australia. 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ Death of O. von Rieben, The Advertiser, 9 May 1949.
- ^ a b c History in Brief Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, "Patient Information Directory 2009-2010", page 3. Burnside War Memorial Hospital, www.burnsidehospital.asn.au
- ^ Darren Young and Chris Marks, Landmarks of Burnside Archived 14 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Celebrating our city - 150 years, City of Burnside, August 2007, page 51
- ^ Brief History, Burnside War Memorial Hospital, www.burnsidehospital.asn.au