CHARITY HOSPITAL
History:
Charity Hospital was founded on May 10, 1736, by a grant from Jean Louis, a French sailor and shipbuilder, who died in New Orleans the year before. His last will and testament was to finance a hospital for the indigent in the colony of New Orleans from his estate. The first Charity Hospital was located in what is now the French Quarter. The hospital was founded 18 years after the city was founded by France in 1718. It was the second oldest continuously operated public hospital in the US. Only Bellevue Hospital in New York City is older, having been founded a month earlier, on March 31, 1736.
After outgrowing the original facility, a second hospital was built in 1743 on Basin Street on the edge of the colony. A third, built nearby in 1785, was destroyed by fire in 1805. A fourth hospital was built on Canal St. in 1815 and a fifth was built in 1832 on Common St. Soon after in 1834 Charity began its long history as a teaching hospital. The sixth and current hospital was built on Tulane Ave in 1936. At the time it was the second largest hospital in the United States with 2,680 beds. The new structure was built in the shape of an H, modified to comply with the segregation laws of the time. Each wing belonged to Tulane or LSU’s medical service.
Destruction: Hurricane Katrina
Charity Hospital sustained severe flood damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The flood water caused massive damage: the basement and much of the mechanical equipment were totally destroyed. The morgue flooded as well. The evacuation of patients from the flooded hospital made national headlines. Three weeks after the events of Hurricane Katrina, the Governor said that Charity Hospital would not reopen as a functioning hospital. The Louisiana State University System, which owns the building, stated that it had no plans to reopen the hospital in its original location. It chose to incorporate Charity Hospital into the city’s new medical center in the lower Mid-City neighborhood. The new hospital completed in August 2015 was named University Medical Center New Orleans.
Demolition and Abatement
CF Breeze Construction, LLC (CFBC) provided demolition and abatement services for the Redevelopment of the one million square foot Former Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA. We handled abatement and demolition of all interior partitions, ceilings, floors, finishes, mechanical piping, mechanical ductwork, mechanical equipment, electrical fixtures, electrical equipment, wiring, elevators and all other items and materials described in the outlined Scope of Work.
