Patchwork Cafe

A long history has been had for the demountable building that we know today as the Patchwork Cafe in the privately owned section of the hospital grounds at New Norfolk.

In the documentary that recorded the last six months (Six Months to go and counting) before the closure of the institution there is a scene where you can see the steam rising from the grate just in front of the door of what is now the cafe, in it’s current location. This was part of the steam loop heating system that went to each Ward of the Hospital. Many people have a vivid memory of steam rising up in the middle of winter in the hospital grounds.

The demountable building was first located beside K1 (building with the clock tower) then moved after the construction of K2 (current Masonic Lodge). It wasn’t in the plan in 1883 but appears in the picture above and it is the building with a pitched roof located about one third along in the photo from the left.

Some people have only ever know this buildings as Patchwork Cafe and others have known this demountable building as a school and an Occupational Therapy building. Today it sits in it’s third location and still bears the marks of being part of the Institution. If you look carefully inside at the windows you will notice that the glass on some of the lower pains is quite thick and around the wooden window frame there is are holes where metal bars once were installed to stop escapes.

This picture shows the building in it’s current location before the gardens and the strange and sometimes controversial old car bodies that currently surround it. The picture below shows the side and rear view and lacks the gardens that have been put in around the Cafe.