Second Townsville General Hospital

Second Townsville General Hospital is a six-story building made of concrete and brick, with wide balconies running along each level and white-rendered walls. The facade divides into five equal sections that give the structure a clean, organized appearance.

Construction started in 1945 after wartime delays, and the facility opened in 1951 as a major medical center for the region. It remained a working hospital for decades before closing and being converted to apartments in the early 2000s.

The building shows how hospital design changed in Australia, moving from separate pavilions to stacked floors that made medical work more efficient. Visitors can still see the wide balconies that once let patients breathe fresh air and the clean symmetry that reflected postwar ideas about modern healing.

The building is located on Eyre Street and can be viewed from the street, where its architectural details are clearly visible from outside. Since it now contains residential apartments, visitors can only see the exterior, but the overall structure and form are easily appreciated from public areas nearby.

The hospital complex housed specialized departments including a maternity ward, a tropical medicine institute, and psychiatric units all within one vertical structure. This concentration of different medical services in a single building was unusual for the time and reflected ambitious planning for comprehensive regional healthcare.