Abandoned Devonport Maternity Hospital

It has been a real joy working through my archives and remastering old photographs for the Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism project This photograph is just about 10 years old to the day! Being able to edit the photographs with the skills I've learnt is a wonderful experience. The first image I have never edited before, this is the first time its seen the light of day since capturing it all those years ago. The process of remastering, finding gems amongst my archives and capturing new photographs is a long process, but I find it such a rewarding one.

Devonport Maternity Hospital - I have never edited this photograph before, its a real joy working through my archives.

Devonport Maternity Hospital

Former Devonport Police Headquarters

I wasn’t sure about what demolished/altered building to write about for a series of articles that focus on lost Tasmanian Modernism. In my recent blog post Documenting for Posterity - Today is Tomorrows History I discuss how much has changed since I’ve been documenting over the past decade or so - As I said in that post, change is constant, and it motivates me to carry on documenting our built environment.

Former Devonport Police Headquarters - a year prior to its demolition

This was the former Devonport Police Headquarters. Located in Oldaker Street, Devonport, the station was a wonderful example of Mid 20th Century design with the prominent feature being its glass curtain wall, a popular feature of architecture from the 1950s and 1960s. The facade had wonderful aluminium windows that created a pleasing pattern mixed with the light blue panelling. The main entry cantilever is typical of this period too, many Tasmanian designs have this feature in one form or another.

I remember driving to Devonport to capture it for posterity as I had read it was to be demolished. There is always a sense of urgency when I find out a building is to be demolished in order to capture it before its demolished. I made this image on a beautiful autumn day in 2012 and in 2013 the Devonport Police Station was demolished. A farmers market, Providore Place, was built on the site with the newly designed Police Station located in Wenvoe Steet.

As I continue to document and edit my archive photographs I will be adding them to the Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism website gallery for demolished and altered buildings - the gallery can be viewed here