Annex

A long enclosed corridor runs between a brick ward building and a wall of timber-framed windows at Waterfall Sanatorium. Red fire suppression pipes trace the length of the pale green ceiling. Several window panes are missing. Cobwebs span the upper corners. The concrete floor is bare and dirty, scattered with debris from the rooms either side. The brickwork has darkened with damp. The corridor reads, even now, as a verandah that was glassed in, then enclosed, then sealed. The light coming through the surviving panes is the same light the wards were designed to take in.

Waterfall Sanatorium opened on 14 April 1909 as the Hospital for Consumptives, on a bushland site chosen for its quietness and isolation. It was New South Wales' first purpose-built tuberculosis hospital. Some of the earliest buildings, including the administration block, kitchen, staff cottages and entrance gatehouse, are attributed to Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon. The treatment model relied on rest, fresh air and outlook, so wards were designed to take light from long verandahs running their length. The annex in this photograph is one of those verandahs. Tuberculosis treatment ended on the site in 1958. The buildings are protected as a local heritage item under Wollongong LEP 2009.