In many New Zealand towns and cities the hospital is one of the largest buildings, with a history of community aspiration behind it. This history of their architecture starts with the tiny hospitals that served the early colony and tracks their evolution through to the high-tech facilities of today, showing how, as medicine developed and communities grew, hospitals have constantly adapted to meet our health needs.

Most of the earliest buildings have been demolished and many of their architects forgotten. This book brings them back into the light.