Don't go down the stairs!

North Charleston, SC 

Happy weekend, kids! I felt like yesterday was Friday so this feels like a bonus pre-weekend night. I am sharing one last shot from the old Navy base before we leave the location. It is such a grand hodge-podge of buildings from modern, historic, industrial and disrepair that I was able to stockpile blog shots for the week.

This scene was from the back of the abandoned hospital building in what may have been the psychiatric ward. That is certainly what the graffiti content wants to imply. Boo! Don't let them take you down the stairs!

Have a great weekend. I am off to the Walk for Water in the morning so if you pass me as you carry your bucket of water say hello. 

Old Naval Hospital - North Charleston

Old Navy Hospital, North Charleston, SC    

I've brought you to the abandoned Naval Hospital in North Charleston before but this time I walked around the entire property and realized how large the facility was. It's a beautiful old Spanish style building and it is sad to see it falling into disrepair. Many people have memories of working or being inside the building when it was a lively and bustling healthcare facility. Now the lower windows are boarded and the outside is marked with graffiti.

The Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District is nationally significant as an example of the United States effort to mobilize medical support for the Navy during World Wars I and II and the Navy's ability to create a permanent and professional medical service for Navy personnel and their dependents. These healthcare facilities were placed at the Charleston Navy Base and planned in a manner consistent with military protocol to organize medical treatment, support services, and residential units. The district is also architecturally significant for buildings and structures that reflect the time periods in which they were constructed corresponding to large building periods at the Charleston Navy Base during the First and Second World Wars. The majority of buildings have a unifying architectural language which incorporates both Spanish Colonial and Mission style forms with Modern details and materials. Two residential buildings and support structures date from the First World War and exhibit Craftsmen Bungalow features. The Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District is an intact collection of thirty-two buildings located in the northwest corner of the former Charleston Navy Base. There are three groups of buildings that comprise the District: treatment facilities centered on the main hospital complex, service related buildings located to the east of the main hospital, and residential buildings largely located to the west and south of the hospital. The earliest extant structures in the district date from 1917 during construction of hospital facilities to serve an increased labor force at the base during World War I. 

Postcard - U.S. Naval Hospital, Charleston

It appears they left a few patients inside when it closed.