The Seaview Asylum was a psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 located to the north of Hokitika, in the West Coast Region of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

. Once the town's biggest employer, the hospital was staffed by a superintendent, matron, attendants, and a labourer. A comprehensive history of the hospital, Sitivation 125: A History of Seaview Hospital, Hokitika and West Coast Mental Health Services, was written in 1997 by Warwick Brunton, now an Associate Dean at the University of Otago

University of Otago

The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...

.

History

Founded in 1872 by the Provincial Government, John Downey was promoted to Superintendent in 1904, and his wife served as matron. In the same year, Dr Duncan MacGregor, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Asylums, authorised the villa hospital pattern of development at Seaview Hospital. Three units were closed in the 1990s, as well as the nursing school in 1992. By 2002, the hospital board sold the asylum to a property developer.

In 1955, Seaview peaked with 549 patients. By 1996, there were 100, and when the facility closed in 2009, it was down to 22.

Buildings

Located on a government reserve, the land was terraced and consisted of approximately 150 acres (60.7 ha). The major buildings included dormitories, single rooms, dining rooms, and a padded cell. The Hokitika Gaol, containing 30 cells, was located on a terrace at Seaview. The Seaview Lighthouse, a Category II registered Historic Place erected in 1879, was later used as an observation tower by the hospital.