OPENING OF THE HOLLOWAY SANATORIUM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1386, 1 September 1885, Page 3

OPENING OF THE HOLLOWAY SANATORIUM.

The noble institution founded by the late Mr Thomas Holloway (of Holloway’s Pills fame) at St. Arm’s Heath, near Tiginia Water, was formally inaugurated on June 15 by the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness, who was accompanied by the Princess of Wales, the Princesses Louise, Victoria, and Maud of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Miss Knollys and Colonel Clarke in attendance, loft the Nino Elms Station on the South-Western railway at a quarter-past 3, and arrived at prettily decorated Virginia Water station at 4 p.m. Here the party were met by Mr G. Martin-Hollow ay and Mr Driver Holloway and conducted to the Sanatorium, which adjoins the station, the Princess of Wales graciously accepting a magnificent bouquet of orchids, carnations, and stephanotis from Miss Martin-Hollo--way. After a brief interval, during which the invited guests assembled in the large hall of the institution, the Royal party were conducted to the dais in the hall, which was profusely adorned with choice flowers and palms, where Mr G. Martin-Holloway presented the Prince of Wales with a description of the institution. In asking his Royal Highness to declare the building open, Mr MartinHolloway said his late relative had devoted the last fifteen years of his life to the consideration of the best means of alleviating the oondilion of those who were mentally afflicted, and his relatives appreciated the honor thus conferred upon them by his Royal Highness. In replying, His Royal Highness said no one with great wealth could employ it to a more excellent purpose than in erecting a sanatorium. He then declared the Holloway Sanatorium open. After a visit of inspection and partaking of a cold collation, at which the guests were over 1000 in number, their Royal Highnesses left. The building may be describtd as magnificent. Standing upon a short eminence in the midst of a well-wooded country, the fine red brick structure, with its lofty central tower, recalling the celebrated belfry of Ypres, presents a conspicuous object for miles around. The central hall is a magnificent apartment, with a lofty open-limbered roof, and is elaborately decorated. The walls are emblazoned with scroll work and heraldic bearings, the panels being filled in with a cosmopolitan series of fulllength potraits, which include those of the Queen and Prince Consorr, the Prince and Princess oi Wales, Lord Beaconsfield ond Mr Gladstone, Shakespeare and Bacon, Raleigh and Cromwell. The wealth of ornament, it may bo added, was an afterthought of kindness towards the persons for whom the building is intended. Cold grey columns and walls, even if enlivened by sculpture, would it was thought, sit heavily on a mind diseased, and it was resolved to make the principal apartments one blaze of gold and color. The dining-hall is accordingly lavishly decorated with figures and designs, arabesque and grotesque, the latter displaying great fertility of invention. The adornments also include a series of paintings in the stylo of Watteau, forming a frieze, above which are smaller groups in lunettes. In the smaller, but still ample parlors and living-rooms, the same idea of cheerfulness and suggestiveness is carried out. It is endeavored above all things to avoid leaving a dimmed in intelligence opposite to a blank wall. All the internal arrangements are admirably planned as well for maintaining general health as for isolating special cases of disease, for providing that attendants shall unobtrusively live close to the patients consigned to their charge, and for conveying an idea of freedom combined with active surveillance. The institution and the surrounding grounds include some 40 acres, the building containing about 600 rooms disposed on four floors, and capable of accommodating about 250 patients. The expense hitherto incurred is about £300,000. The idea of establishing such an institution was suggested to Mr Holloway at a meeting presided over by the Earl ot Shaftesbury in 1861, in which the need of suitable provision for persons of the middle class afflicted with mental disease was strongly Insisted upon. The idea then put forth was subsequently taken up by Mr Holloway, who was desirous of devoting his wealth to some charitable purpose, which should benefit without pauperising those whom he sought to assist. He was ably assisted in the development of the scheme by his relatives, who have taken over the financial burden of the undertaking. It is, however, desired to make the institution as self-supporting as possible.*