{"nrhp_refnum":"83001679","name":"Will Rogers Memorial Hospital","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NY 86","address_restricted":false,"city":"Saranac Lake","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.310862204000045,"lon":-74.11365558899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-09-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Tudor Revival hospital building on a five-acre wooded hilltop site east of New York Route 86 in Saranac Lake, Essex County, New York, built 1928-1929 and designed by William E. Scopes.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its architecture as a distinctive example of Tudor Revival institutional design, made to look like a country estate or lodge rather than a hospital. It is also significant for an innovative, non-institutional approach to treating tuberculosis among vaudeville and later wider entertainment industry patients from 1930 to 1974.","narrative":"Built in 1928-1929 on a wooded hilltop about a mile south of Saranac Lake village center, this three-story hospital was designed by local architect William E. Scopes to resemble a country estate or lodge. It has a steel frame and reinforced concrete structure, a raised stone basement, stucco and half-timbered upper walls, a slate roof and a four-story polygonal tower. It was created by the National Vaudeville Artists organization as a subsidized tuberculosis treatment facility for ailing performers. Its design departed from typical hospitals, offering private rooms, sleeping porches, and shared dining and recreation spaces, and treating patients as colleagues rather than outcasts. Dedicated in 1930 as the NVA Lodge, it was renamed the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in 1936 and served entertainers until 1974. After standing vacant, it briefly housed press operations for the 1980 Winter Olympics. It was listed for its Tudor Revival architecture and its role in entertainment-industry health care.","period_of_significance":"1928-1929","architect_builder":"William E. Scopes","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a hospital from 1928 until 1974, then vacant until 1980, when it briefly served as press headquarters for the XIII Winter Olympic Games; the form lists it as unoccupied and vacant.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.517221-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001679.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001679/d5a0496c2b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001679/d5a0496c2b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mwanner","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saranac_Village_at_Will_Rogers.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mwanner</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:Saranac_Village_at_Will_Rogers.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"93001451","name":"New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/new-york-central-railroad-adirondack-division-historic-district-93001451/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317810","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers_Memorial_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8003055"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/will-rogers-memorial-hospital-83001679/"}