{"nrhp_refnum":"85000934","name":"Charity Hospital","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"644 W. 36th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Savannah","county":"Chatham County","state":"GA","lat":32.06035691100004,"lon":-81.10789006599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-05-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Charity Hospital is a three-story brick Georgian Revival hospital at 644 West 36th Street in the Cuyler community of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia. It was designed by architect Cletus W. Bergen and opened in 1931.","why_significant":"It is significant in architecture as a good example of Georgian Revival style applied to a hospital, and as the work of trained architect Cletus W. Bergen. It is significant in social-humanitarian history because it was built to care for Savannah's black citizens in a segregated society. It resulted from a joint fund-raising effort by black and white residents and housed a nurse training program.","narrative":"Charity Hospital, at 644 West 36th Street in Savannah's Cuyler community, is a three-story brick hospital in the Georgian Revival style. Its central pavilion has a portico with porches on each floor, a fanlight transom and a six-paneled wooden door, and an east wing contained patient rooms. Architect Cletus W. Bergen of Levey, Clarke and Bergen designed it in 1926. The hospital grew from earlier institutions founded in 1893 and 1896, including a nurses' school, to serve Savannah's black residents when few hospitals admitted them. Construction stalled in 1930 for lack of money, and a citywide campaign, supported by a foundation pledge and a local philanthropist, raised over $60,000, mostly from white donors. The hospital opened on April 15, 1931, with 36 beds, staffed by black doctors and nurses and overseen by a white executive board. It was sold in 1964 and later operated as a nursing home. A 1982 fire destroyed the central roof, and the building stood vacant.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Cletus W. Bergen, architect","architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Vacant for a number of years and unoccupied at the time of nomination. A 1982 fire destroyed the roof over the central pavilion. The owners planned to convert it into a community center.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.377246-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/85000934.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000934/5df28bb14b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000934/5df28bb14b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_Charity_Hosp_pano01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</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:GA_Savannah_Charity_Hosp_pano01.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98000028","name":"Cuyler-Brownville Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/cuyler-brownville-historic-district-98000028/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207279","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134148176"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/chatham-county/charity-hospital-85000934/"}