Proposal for Intervention at Saint Agnes Hospital

The revitalization of Saint Agnes provides a unique opportunity to not only protect and elevate the hospital’s historic fabric, but also to address health disparities in the community by reinstating its health care infrastructure. With reference to Kerr’s Conservation Plan as a guiding structure and Patrick Geddes’ altruistic approach to conservation as a guiding philosophy, Saint Agnes can once again reprise its role as “The Healing Place”.

In Raleigh, the ruins of Saint Agnes Hospital are at risk of being forgotten as its original occupants age along with the deteriorating physical fabric. As the only hospital between New Orleans and Washington, D.C. able to provide medical training and adequate health care to African Americans during the Jim Crow era, this site holds the complexity of a community’s resilience in a time of severe inequality. Additionally, its relevance today is found in the continuing need to address health disparities of disadvantaged populations in North which are rooted in and compounded by historic racial discrimination in health care.

In order to secure a sustainable future for the hospital, this strategic design proposal seeks to stabilize the remaining physical heritage, to raise awareness of the hospital’s significant role in 20th century African American history, to provide high quality clinical care to minority and disadvantage populations of Raleigh, and finally, to provide a space for flexible programming to benefit the surrounding community.

This project has allowed me to delve into my home state's history and to be critical of the politics which necessitated Saint Agnes' existence. This essay also enabled me to implement conservation philosophy and strategies that I've learned throughout the MSBC course. Finally, this research has given me a theoretical basis for not only my dissertation, but also my professional work moving forward.