Updated: The building which is a part of the St. Joseph Hospital complex and is on the southeast corner of Main and Van Buren Street, will be torn down shortly. Â Â The above photo was taken November 20, 2005 during the demolition of the old Medical Supply Warehouse on Main Street which became the site of the current Fort Wayne Newspaper’s PRess Building. Â The building in question is in the lighter circle. Â
The old St. Joseph’s Nurses Home on the St. Joesph Hospital complex is set to be torn down over the next few weeks. Â The resulting space will become green space, replacing that lost when the new Medical Office Building was built between the main structure and parking deck. Â
From the News-Sentinel:
Traffic to be restricted while St. Joseph Hospital tears down building
From staff reports
Traffic might be obstructed as early as Thursday on Van Buren Street and two lanes of Main Street as St. Joseph Hospital begins a demolition process of a vacant building.
The demolition will begin Monday.
The building – a former convent for nuns of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, the order that founded the hospital, and later used for hospital offices – will be razed over a month to six weeks. After the space is cleared it will be turned into green space.
This is beyond scandalous. What in the world are they thinking?!?! And where is the public outcry??? Kind of makes one reconsider all that talk a year or so ago about St. Joe being pro-downtown. Downtown FW needs more “greenspace” like her ‘burbs need another WalMart. I’m sick to my stomach!
My apologies!!! I just checked with ArchFW who said though St. Joe is definitely razing a building, it’s not the Nurses Home shown in photos on this blog post. It’s the rather non-descript ’50’s add-on on the southeast corner of Main and Van Buren. Still not completely sure that “greenspace” is better than this building, but I retract my vitriolic indignation.
Stephen – see if you can get in there to take some photos of it (the inside) before it is demolished. I haven’t been able to locate any internal photos of the area that they are demolishing.
Hi Kristina, I will see if my contact at St. Joe can arrange something. Is there something you’re thinking of in particular? I’ll see what I can do.