Tracing Traditional Hospital Spaces: A Photo Exhibit

Teruko Kishibe, Archivist, St. Michaels Hospital Archives

THE EMERGENCY WARD

When St. Michaels opened on July 1, 1892, (approximately where the Bond Lobby stands today), it consisted of a one-room emergency, a simple outpatients clinic and 26 beds. High demand caused the Emergency ward to quickly outgrow its surroundings on multiple occasions. Newspapers of the day regularly reported emergency cases handled by St. Michaels; there was, in fact, a strong push for St. Michaels to become exclusively an Emergency hospital, giving up its inpatient wards. Its location, in close proximity to the University of Toronto and the downtown core, secured its future.
The busy Emergency ward circa 1915: it received more than 25 patients a day. For a short while the two-room, two-corridor ward was considered well-equipped, until it was forced to move for a second time.

THE MATERNITY WARD

There were no births at St. Michaels in its first two years, but in 1894-1985, when the Hugh Ryan wing was built with a maternity ward on the top floor, 12 babies were delivered here. Similar to the Emergency ward, Maternity moved many times as the hospital grew and facilities became outdated. This is most evident in the maternity wing purchased and renovated in 1907. South of the Hugh Ryan wing, it was papered and painted, many new amenities were added, and it was described as having a homelike atmosphere. While it was commended in 1907, by 1913, it was deemed inadequate and unsuitable.
In 1913, maternity patients were moved out of the maternity ward and back into the top floor of the Hugh Ryan wing. By 1928, the C-wing had been built, and maternity took over its entire seventh floor and remained there for almost four decades.

THE OPERATING ROOM

The Hugh Ryan wing may have housed the early Emergency and Maternity wards, but it was intended primarily as a surgical wing. The three-storey building was constructed of Credit Valley stone topped with red pressed bricks; its operating theatre was one-and-a-half storeys tall, with a gallery large enough to seat 50 students. Over time, what began as a single operating theatre grew into multiple operating rooms, many for medical subspecialties and located in various wings of the quickly sprawling hospital.
Though not taken at St. Michaels, this photo gives an example of an operating room in the 1890s.

The Hugh Ryan wing is visible on the left, 1895. St. Michaels in 1892, where Emergency patients were received until, in 1895, the Hugh Ryan wing opened. Nursery, c1915 Nurses weighing newborns, c1915 Left: This photo of the operating theatre in the D-wing was taken in 1924, as part of a fund-raising campaign.

C-wing, 7th floor, c1939

A rendering of the A-, B-, and C-wings, c1926. Note the ambulance turning into the proposed new Emergency Ward.

In 1953, the Emergency ward received a major overhaul; one that would serve the public almost unchanged for 30 years

In 1954, Obstetrics expanded into the seven-storey AS-wing, which ran south along Bond St. to Queen St. E. One floor of this new wing was dedicated to postpartum patients, while a 50 bassinette nursery covered the top-most floor.

Above: In 1937, additional operating rooms were opened in the new E-wing.

The Emergency department moved to its current location in 1982, at the corner of Shuter and Victoria Streets. It is a regional trauma and stroke centre, open every day, day and night.

Cardiac surgery, 1966

In 1964, the F-wing was completed. Post-partum patients were transferred from 6AS to the new Obstetrics department on the fourth floor, which showcased five delivery rooms (see RIGHT), a C-section room, recovery room, 100 patient beds, and 120 bassinets. In the 1980s, an effort was made to update the maternity space itself: the clinical look of labour rooms was softened with wallpaper and comfortable furnishings, and the labour room became the delivery room as well. St. Michaels continues to offer patient-centered obstetrical care today.

Operating room, c1953 Neurosurgery, c1985

In 2018, our tradition of growth and improvement will see the ER move once again; this time to our new patient tower at the corner of Victoria and Queen Streets and nearly doubling in size.

McDonald, Irene. For the Least of My Brethren: A Centenary History of St. Michaels Hospital. Toronto : Dundurn Press, 1992.