{"nrhp_refnum":"09000794","name":"Whittaker Memorial Hospital","other_names":["Dhr# 121-5072"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1003 Twenty-Eighth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newport News","county":"Newport News","state":"VA","lat":36.989649393000036,"lon":-76.41217379899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-09-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick hospital building of 1943, with additions in 1957 and 1966, at 28th Street and Orcutt Avenue in the Brookville Heights neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia, the heart of the city's African American community.","why_significant":"The hospital grew out of the efforts of African American physicians to provide care during the Jim Crow era, when Black patients and doctors were largely excluded from local hospitals. It served the African American community until it closed in 1985. The 1943 building was designed by African American architects William Henry Moses Jr. and Charles Thaddeus Russell with engineer Benson Leroy Dutton.","narrative":"Built in 1943 in the Brookville Heights neighborhood of Newport News, Whittaker Memorial Hospital is a brick building with a concrete frame and a strong horizontal look created by alternating bands of yellow and variegated brick. Moderne and Art Deco influences appear in its design, including an angled main entrance. Additions in 1957 and 1966 raised capacity from 58 beds to 126. The institution began in 1908, when African American physicians led by Walter T. Foreman and Robert L. Whittaker leased rooms for a hospital, at a time when Black doctors and patients were shut out of local facilities. It later occupied a frame building from 1915 before moving into this structure. The 1943 building was designed by African American architects William Henry Moses Jr. and Charles Thaddeus Russell, with engineer Benson Leroy Dutton. It served the African American community until 1985. Its significance rests on its role in segregated medical care and ethnic heritage between 1943 and 1959.","period_of_significance":"1943-1959","architect_builder":"William Henry Moses, Benson L. Dutton, Charles Thaddeus Russell","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Modernistic (Moderne and Art Deco influences)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Listed under function as vacant/not in use; the interior is in poor condition and several areas have been vandalized. The building is under new ownership and slated for renovation as a senior residence.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.945468-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/93/6820/41682093/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/09000794.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000794/7ef8323bd7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000794/7ef8323bd7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Joseph Sullivan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whittaker_Memorial_Hospital_(Front_Left).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Joseph Sullivan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whittaker_Memorial_Hospital_(Front_Left).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682093","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Memorial_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903359"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/newport-news/whittaker-memorial-hospital-09000794/"}