13 August 2009

Before & After - Charleston



Calhoun St. & Ashley Ave., Charleston, S.C.

I just walked past this building and grabbed a shot knowing I had a "before" in my files. Wow. We went through an uglification period didn't we? Sad to think this beautiful building was covered up.

I have many happy memories of this building. It used to be the old St. Francis Xavier Hospital and that third floor was the labor & delivery unit. At one time there was a Nursing Home across the street and I was taking care of a gal in labor whose grandmother was a patient in it. They wheeled grandma to the front and parked her outside the door. I called them when the baby was born and held the slippery little one up at the window for her to see to the applause of all the staff. Fun stuff.

Later on, I was in that third floor window on the right, encouraging a lady to push as Hurricane Hugo hit. The ceiling tiles were lifting up in the air as the storm blew in and maintenance men were nailing plywood to the windows. Lordy. We moved all the patients to the inner halls and lost many of the windows.

When St. Francis hospital moved West of the Ashley the Medical University of SC bought the building. It's still ugly but I expect amazing things still happen every day.

6 comments:

Les said...

Someone needs to take the burka off of that building.

Lowell said...

I like the first shot - or the building; not so much the second. But what a tale you tell! Sheesh! Dontcha just love hurricanes!

de said...

What neat stories. And it's unimaginable why anyone would want to take the building in it's old state and put it in it's current state. What a shame.

Charlestonjoan said...

I agree. The before picture is so much more attractive. It's a shame.

Judy said...

What were those people thinking!! Great stories though. Thanks for sharing them.

Steve said...

Charlotte is absolutely horrible about covering up and/or imploding the past. At least Atlanta has an excuse!