A government agency has applied to demolish the heritage-listed Caldwell House and nurses’ home buildings arguing the interiors were heavily contaminated with asbestos after thieves broke in to steal copper piping.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Health Infrastructure (HI) owns the buildings which date from 1937 and the 1960s and have not been used since the adjacent Orange Base Hospital closed in 2011.
It has applied to Orange City Council for approval to demolish the buildings and remove all trees and vegetation on the site which is over the road from the post-2020 home of the Department of Primary Industries.
The move is likely to bring outrage from historians and the community.
A development application (DA) states that it would cost $2.4-2.7 million to clean up the asbestos which was potentially more than the value of the site.
Even retaining just the facades was costed at $2.4 million.
It said a developer was close to buying the properties in 2017 for an aged care facility but pulled out once the extent of the damage was revealed.
“In late 2016 and again in mid-2017 whilst the arrangement was in final negotiations, there was a forced entry, theft and vandalism attack on these buildings resulting in significant damage,” it said.
“The damage to the buildings from forced entry caused hazardous materials to be dispersed in the hallways and ceilings which were removed to pilfer copper piping and wiring.
“The developer subsequently withdrew his interest in acquiring the property.”
The DA acknowleged the heritage status of Caldwell House under the Orange Local Environment Plan of 2011 but said it was “significantly contaminated by asbestos.
“Complete remediation and clear validation of the buildings in terms of asbestos clean up should be the goal. However, the achievement of this goal is complex, impractical and cost-prohibitive,” the DA said.
It said that once demolition approval was granted it would give a future buyer of the site options about whether to keep or remove the structures.
The DA said the history of the site should be preserved by including the foundation stone and brass tablet from the 1937 opening in future buildings on the site.
It will be on display at the council offices from Friday before being sent to council for a decision.
A HOME FOR THE CITY’S CARERS
More than 80 years ago the foundation stone for Caldwell House was laid by then-Health Minister Herbert Fitzsimons.
Eight months later the NSW Governor Lord Wakehurst officially opened Orange’s new quarters for nurses on October 12, 1937.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald the next day said it was a popular event.
“Following the opening ceremony the official guests were treated to afternoon tea at the hospital while the people of Orange crowded into the new building to see for themselves how the nurses would be living in the future,” it said.
Orange and District Historical Society president Liz Edwards, in her book In Sickness and In Health, on Orange’s medical history, records the nurses were pretty happy about it too.
“The nurses were delighted with their new accommodation, having lived in substandard quarters ever since the first hospital was built,” it said.