St Anne’s Hospital a step closer to becoming KwaZulu-Natal Museum

As the process of turning the old St Anne’s Hospital building into a new home of KwaZulu-Natal Museum is being finalised, the KZN Amafa and Research Institute (Amafa) said plans include demolishing all buildings on the property except for the original hospital portion, built in 1897, and the convent of the Augustinian Order nurses, which was constructed in 1930. 

This is because the public participation process for additional approval begins and is led by the Amafa as the custodian of heritage sites in KwaZulu-Natal.

The initial proposal to transform the old St Anne’s premises into the KZN Museum received approval. Now, the Amafa is conducting public participation processes for further approval before structures are demolished, altered, or extended. Space constraints necessitated the relocation.

Opened in 1904, the museum is a tourist and education spot and home to the Centre of Scientific Research. Its current premises are at 237 Jabu Ndlovu Street in Pietermaritzburg, and the new home will be at 96 Jabu Ndlovu Street, the site of the old St Anne’s Hospital.

It is the custodian of collections in 10 cultural history galleries, including archaeology, rock art, historical anthropology (particularly relating to the Zulu and Nguni people), and European settler history. 

The museum has eight natural history galleries housing a range of mammals, including the last wild elephant in KZN. Other natural history items on display are birds, amphibians, insects, an extensive mollusc collection, and a life-size model of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Viranna Frank, KZN Museum’s head of marketing and communications, previously said that the lack of space for offices, exhibition areas, heritage collection storerooms, and educational facilities necessitated the move. 

“The new site promises ample room for growth, enabling the museum to better serve its visitors and preserve its collections. Additionally, the existing location no longer offers ideal conditions for the preservation of many of the heritage collections. The move to the old St Anne’s Hospital site will facilitate state-of-the-art preservation facilities, ensuring the museum’s invaluable artefacts are kept in optimal conditions,” Frank said.

Construction is expected to start this year (mid-2025) and be completed in December 2029. The official planning for the project began in March 2020 with the appointment of a team led by Sakhisizwe Architect, but encountered delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture previously said that the estimated cost based on the concept design was R631 717 283 (R632 million).

Ros Devereux, the head of the Built Environment Section at the Amafa, recently guided the Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) who attended the tour of the site and informed them of the new proposals and how that necessitated the demolition of some of the buildings on site. 

Dr Mxolisi Dlamuka, chief executive of the KZN Amafa and Research Institute, said the demolition of the nuns’ chapel, built in 1940, has caused some concern among the interested and affected parties. 

He said the maternity wards, built in the early 1900s, and the X-ray and laboratory building, built in 1925, are among the significant buildings set for demolition.  

“The move is essential because excavation under the building is required for basement accommodation in the new collections wing. This matter was raised by the I&APs (Interested and/or Affected Parties) during the previous application process, and Amafa required the applicants to put forward proposals for the reconstruction or memorialisation of the chapel elsewhere on the site.  

“A proposal that is still under discussion and to be confirmed by the museum is to reconstruct the walls and windows as part of a display in the new building that will replace the old St Anne’s Outpatients building at the entrance to the site on Jabu Ndlovu Street,” Dlamuka said.

He added that another concern raised by the I&APs was the encroachment onto the space occupied by the remaining buildings with a limited buffer. It was feared that the new structures would dominate the old and would not allow a clear view of the original building, in particular, so it was necessary for those concerned to visit the site to see what the impact would be. 

Dlamuka said the responses from the I&APs will be discussed at a meeting to be scheduled once all have been collated. The I&APs who respond will be given a chance to air their concerns at that meeting, which will be held online and will be open to the public.

Concerning the progress from the museum’s side, Dlamuka said the KZN Museum has followed the processes as laid out in the national and provincial heritage legislation. 

The application for comment on the development of a site over 5 000m² was handled in 2023 and the KZN Amafa and Research Institute did not object to the development, subject to an application being submitted to the Institute, for a permit for the demolition of some of the buildings on site and the restoration and alteration of the remaining structures on site, he said.  

“The permit application is currently under review, and it has triggered the necessity to undertake the public consultation process. Many neighbours did not receive the registered mail notifications from the SA Post Office posted in December 2024, so Amafa had to find other means to reach out to the public for comment,” he said.

These structures are over 60 years of age and fall within the general protection of such buildings as contained in Section 34 of the National Heritage Resources Act, Act 25 of 1999, and Section 37 of the KZN Amafa and Research Institute Act, Act 5 of 2018, he added.  

History of St Anne’s Hospital

St Anne’s Hospital, also known as the Sanitarium, was the first private hospital built in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the Roman Catholic Missionaries led by Bishop Charles Jolivet, who arrived in 1875, accompanied by 14 Holy Family sisters. He replaced Bishop Jean-Francois Allard.

The Sanitarium built next to the original St Mary’s Church on Loop Street (now Jabu Ndlovu Street) had an elevator that ran from the attic to the basement and was staffed by nuns belonging to the Augustinians, a nursing order brought out from France by Jolivet.

In 1970, the Sanitarium closed as a private Catholic hospital. It was then handed over to the Natal Provincial Administration for use as a satellite to Grey’s Hospital in 1972, and it underwent a name change to St Anne’s (which was originally the name of the hospital’s maternity section).

In 1985, it was used as the police barracks, and by the correctional services in 1987. The old St Anne’s building deteriorated over the years, and it was then transferred into the care of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. Years later, it was locked from public access as it was deemed unsafe.

After it closed down, a new St Anne’s — a private hospital with no connection with the old healthcare facility except the name — opened in Pietermaritzburg and is still operational.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za