page_title: Bloomfield Hospital, Orange
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Bloomfield Hospital, Orange / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Bloomfield Hospital, Orange: Bloomington Hospital. View from the former female wards
context_page_description: Bloomfield Hospital is a heritage-listed former psychiatric hospital at Forest Road, Orange, City of Orange, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon and George McRae and built from 1923 to 1931. It is also known as Orange Mental Hospital. The property is owned by Orange Ex-services Club. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 March 2006.
context_section_description: Bloomfield Hospital is located on Forest Road in the south-eastern outskirts of the city of Orange. The Hospital comprises two distinct groupings of buildings and their setting of landscaped and park like gardens and playing fields
  The earliest buildings developed on the site lie on a ridge ( north-south) to the east of the site and comprise the original Admissions Section ( Designed 1910) and Convalescent Section ( designed in the Inter-war period). The Admissions Section comprises a two-storey central administration building built in the Federation Arts and Crafts style and two single storey wards. All these buildings are constructed of face brick, the second storey of the administration block being rendered with stucco and painted. The roof of the administration wing is tiled with terracotta tiles as are the ward buildings. The western side of the administration block features a columned entry porch and adjacent Dutch gables which are edged with stone copings. The ward building also have stone edged gable ends. The wards comprise central dormitories and wings of single room accommodation.
  To the south of the Admission section lie the five buildings comprising the Convalescent Section designed to accommodate "curable" cases away from the influence of more seriously disturbed patients. These buildings are of the Inter War Arts and Craft style of architecture with some Inter War Neo Georgian influence. The Convalescent Section Administration building is of two storeys with a recessed veranda on the front face and a shingled balcony above. This has since been enclosed. The wards are two story brick buildings with wide verandas on the north eastern elevation. The verandas are supported by circular columns.
  Other buildings on the eastern part of the Bloomfield site include the former Nurses Home 1 (now Tallow Wood Hostel). This two storey brick building is designed in the Inter War Georgian Style featuring a columned portico on the main elevation and an upper level veranda at the rear of the u-shaped building. There are also residences for the "Officer in Charge " and the "Medical Officer" as well as another more contemporary residence. There are also two former stable buildings located on the eastern ridge complexes of buildings.
  Stretching westward from this group of buildings lies an area of lightly treed, open space. The cricket pitch (established in 1928), a series of playing fields (developed in 1938), a bowling green and clubhouse, ( 1960) and a 9-hole golf course are located in this area. This open space was pivotal to the planning of the hospital facility as it functioned to separate different categories of patient. Patients whose behaviour and chances of recovery were low were accommodated in the buildings on the western part of the site and those who were likely to be successfully rehabilitated lived in the eastern part of the site.
  The group of buildings located in the area were constructed between 1927 and 1931. The wards and the Recreation Hall were built in an arc along the highest part of a ridgeline and take full advantage of the therapeutic views to the east over the playing fields and landscaped parklike gardens to the south east of the site. The Recreation Hall ( now Leisure centre) is located at the centre of the arc. Designed in the Inter-war Mediterranean style this building is of rendered stucco, has an arcaded veranda along one side, a flat end facade with a bell niche on the western end of the building.
  There and there are five male wards to the north and five female wards to the south of the Recreation Hall. The two single storey brick wards either side of the Recreation Hall were for the sick and infirm. The building on the southern side of the recreation Hall retains its original eastern elevation featuring a veranda on three sides overlooking a central garden area. To the north and south of these sick and infirm wards lie mirror image, two storey wards constructed of brick and designed in the Federation Art and Craft style. The northern and southern most wards in this configuration are construc
caption: Landscaped grounds
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