St. Elisabeth Hospice in Kura Hulanda Village

The buildings

The earliest wings of the hospital were built sometime between 1855 and 1898. Since that time, the building has been periodically enlarged and adapted to the influx of patients and improvements in medical science and health care. The original design has been modified many times, so the complex has multiple construction eras. The earliest concept, practically none of which exists today, was a pavilion system made of a series of structures. The hospital underwent extensive expansion and partial reconstruction in the early twentieth century due to a severe lack of available space.

Before the 1990s, the hospital was divided into sections where patients of both sexes, social groups and professional backgrounds were treated separately from each other. There were rooms for the less fortunate, a wing for elderly residents and several 1st, 2nd and 3rd class rooms. The lower floors housed the island’s underprivileged. Here, then, were most of the rooms.

Above them were the quarters of the second class. The first-class rooms were huge and they were all located on the upper floors, where the wind could blow freely and the galleries could keep the space cool. CM. Baker added the chapel and west wing in the 1920s, and further additions and changes were made in the 1940s and 1950s.