St. Elizabeth Hospital

St. Francis Convent

Dates:

1876/1879-1880/1883 (demolished) 1896-1897/1904-1905/1913/1921-1922/1927 (surviving)

Location: Northeast corner of N. Fourteenth and Tippecanoe Streets, Lafayette, Indiana

St. Elizabeth's Hospital first opened in 1876 in a building on Hartford Street near N. Fourteenth. The original building was expanded by new wings in 1879-1880 and 1883. During 1896-1897 the hospital's new Main Building was built along N. Fourteenth Street, attached to the southwest corner of the earlier building. This wing was designed by Brother Adrian, a Franciscan monk in St. Louis, Missouri. During 1904-1905 the Chapel and St. Francis Convent wing were built onto the south side of the Main Building. After these additions the building was C-shaped, with the old hospital to the north, Main Building to the west, and Convent and Chapel on the South. The space partially enclosed by the buildings contained a garden, greenhouses, and lawns where the patients could go for fresh air and recreation. The hospital buildings also had porches on all floors facing this area. In 1913 the first fireproof wing was added onto the north end of the Main Building. Around 1920, the original 1876 hospital building was elevated on railroad ties and moved across to the south side of the hospital grounds to serve as a contagious disease isolation facility. The 1879-1880 and 1883 wings were demolished and the site cleared for the large fireproof North Wing, built during 1921-1922. St. Francis College was built to the east of the hospital in 1921 as a training school for nurses. In 1927, a fireproof wing was built onto the east end of the Convent and a fourth floor added across the Convent and Main Building. A large tower seems to have been added to the Chapel entrance at this time.

An aerial postcard of the hospital from 1910. The 1876 building is at left, with wings of various dates leading to the 1905 Convent at right. This is a 1917 postcard of the St. Francis Convent and St. Elizabeth Hospital, at the northeast corner of 14th and Tippecanoe Streets.

After World War II, the fourth floor of the convent was converted to the pediatrics division of the hospital. The building remained relatively unaltered until an addition and partial remodeling from 1960-1962. This addition and others in the 1980s and 1990s have covered much of the original gardens. The 1876 building which had been moved and recycled in the 1920s was demolished in 1969 "for future expansion." Nothing was built on the site for over twenty years, when a new entrance and lobby were added to the east side of the building. The boiler house and laundry building was demolished from 1986 to about 1988, leaving only the foundation with a roof on top of it. This is also planned to be demolished along with the convent.

During the 1970s-1990s the hospital demolished much of the surrounding neighborhood, including over 100 houses, mainly for parking. This neighborhood was Lafayette's largest African-American community, containing the Lincoln School (today a homeless shelter) as well as what was then called the Colored Baptist Church (demolished by the hospital). The houses and tree-lined streets have been replaced by a barren plain of parking lots and small buildings related to the hospital.

This is a c.1970 aerial postcard of St. Elizabeth Hospital. Roll your mouse over the image to see the areas the hospital demolished between c.1970-2000 highlighted in red. This is no exaggeration. The yellow represents the most recent demolition--the St. Francis Convent, which was demolished in 2003.

In the early-1990s a parking garage was built behind St. Francis College and connected to the hospital by a sky walk. With less need for the parking lots it seems that the hospital would have consider improving and landscaping some of the sites instead of demolishing part of the neighborhood's greatest landmark. The hospital did not publicly announce its plans until Friday, February 14, 2003, when they filed for the demolition permit. This was to be reviewed at the Board of Works meeting on Tuesday, February 18, 2003, leaving virtually no time for any negotiations. Despite much community outcry at the demolition, Greater Lafayette Health Services, the owners of St. Elizabeth and Home Hospitals, refused to consider re-use options for the building. They claim they cannot afford an estimated $250,000 in yearly "maintenance costs" which were not specified. This was in spite of the fact that the merger of St. Elizabeth and Home Hospital as Greater Lafayette Health Services saves millions of dollars annually and that they rent office space in a nearby building which is thought to cost nearly that much per year in rent. The hospital's lawyer tried to say that the building was not historic, despite the fact that it has probably affected the lives of more people in the community over the decades than perhaps any other building in the county. She also stated that because of its bearing-wall construction it was impractical for re-use. Prof. Michael O. Hunt of Purdue University, an expert in wood science and historic bearing-wall systems, has presented evidence which shows these claims are blatant lies. This is probably the largest historic building ever to be demolished in Tippecanoe County.

Technically the hospital demolished half of a building. The Chapel and Convent were added to the Main Building during 1904-1905. The hospital has tried to claim that it was demolishing the convent to "better showcase the chapel." With the sea of hospital parking lots it seems that there are many other sites better suited to park use where it could be of great benefit to the neighborhood's appearance. Because the Chapel and Convent were built as one building, the Chapel is not a fully independent structure. Unlike a free-standing church, it was meant to be attached to the Convent in several places and is entirely out of context without it. The building was designed so that the Chapel could be entered from the front of the hospital, standing as a central part of the building. The demolition has left it alienated and defaced.

The Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation had made some contact with the hospital about salvaging woodwork and other materials on Saturday, February 15, 2003. The hospital then changed their mind and said that they would not allow salvage of the richly-aged yellow pine woodwork from the Convent's interior.

The building was demolished over a period of several months and the site is now barren like the surrounding neighborhood, only a memory remains.

February, 2003, Fourteenth Street Facade View from southwest
Detail of terra cotta capital at entrance View from the east; St. Francis Convent at left, chapel at center
Northwest corner of front facade View from east between St. Francis Convent and chapel
Views of the courtyard between the convent and chapel  
April 2003, Stone and terra cotta removed by contractors, apparently for salvage and resale Entrance with terra cotta and limestone removed, note statue niche that was covered by window
Foundation facing stone removed--this is the joint between the 1905 building (left) and the 1927 building. Note basement windows that were bricked over May 2003. View from the southwest
Looking towards chapel from the east Ripping the tile and brick walls off the steel frame of the fireproof 1927 wing
The front entrance stripped of its terra cotta and stone East end of 1927 wing
January, 2003 April, 2003
 
May, 2003 Demolition is the opposite of Recycling