Curate Your Own Adventure

This is going to be a very brief post about a re-purposed heritage building in Hobart City Centre. Owned by The Tasman Hotel, Mary Mary is a cute little bar housed in the former St Mary’s Hospital, Tasmania’s first private hospital. How this bar has managed to combine both modern and heritage is amazing and worth a short little blog post.

History of the Hospital

There is some information about St Mary’s Hospital online, but I found Mary Mary’s page to have the most comprehensive overview. It is great to see a bar with its building’s chronological history on the homepage! The following has been sourced from there.

St Mary’s Hospital was constructed between 1847 and 1848. It was intended to be a facility for those who could not afford medical care elsewhere in Tasmania. Unfortunately, the hospital was closed in 1862 due to a lack of patients. After closing, the building became offices for the Lands and Survey Department. Over the next few decades, additions were added and renovation work completed in order to expand and stabilise.

Until 2012, the building was used as a government administration office. It also lay empty for some time. When a redevelopment program was announced for Parliament Square, where the building is located, it included heritage restoration of the old sandstone buildings. This is when old St Mary’s became designated as a bar/dining option for The Tasman Hotel. In 2021, Mary Mary opened keeping the name of the hospital front and centre.

Objects

If you enter the bar from the Hotel, one of the first things you see is a cabinet of objects. All of these archaeological objects were discovered during excavation work in 2012. There are a few bottles, decorative plates, and even a child’s shoe! Labels are inside the cabinet providing a description of the objects but no contextual information. A small context label would really add to the display.

Bar

The architecture of the bar combines modern and heritage features. The sandstone walls are juxtaposed with a formal bar and leather seats. The original cast iron doors are still in place and used by staff. It is a very nice space to enjoy a drink and some really delicious bar food. I highly recommend the tiramisu.

Overall + Logistics

In my opinion, this is a great re-purposing of heritage. While the old is still featured and celebrated, the contemporary has breathed new life into the building. Mary Mary is open Thursday to Saturday from 4pm to 12am and Sunday to Wednesday from 5pm to 10.30pm.