We got lost as we were driving around the and pulled into Detroit Grace hopital parking lot. I noticed across the street was this beautiful old building that was named The Helen Newberry Nurses School. So I took a couple pictures and looked it up. What an amazing surprise!
One year after Detroit Grace Hospital was opened they opened
a training program for nurses. The first
class had 14 students. This nurses
training program was one of the earliest of its kind in the country.
Later that same year the hospital realized that these young
women needed nearby housing while they were in training. The concern was that the young women’s virtues
were at risk by immoral men looking to take advantage of them. Helen Newberry donated money to build dorms
around the city for young single women. The
Helen Newberry Nurses Home opened in 1898 at the corner of Willis and John
R. It served as a school for nurses and
residence hall into the 1960's.
"They built it in a way that the upper floors were the
dorms, these tiny, little rooms, almost like a nunnery," said Diane Van
Buren of Zachary and Associates.
"The main floor was like a grand entry where the families could
come and visit. The lower level was the
classrooms."
The building was vacant and deteriorating for years before the
school was purchased for renovation. In 2008
Helen Newberry School for Nurses was placed on the National Registry of
Historic Places. The building was
redesigned as a 28 unit 1-2 bedroom apartment building.
They took great care to salvage the beauty of the original architecture.
The original leaded glass windows were
saved and they even restored the building’s old bricks to preserve historical
value. "It was in pretty bad shape
so a lot of the building was lost," said Van Buren. "That was the
great challenge. We actually have the
financing and enough funding to put it back together again to make it as
beautiful as it was."
I love that this historical building was saved and had a
happy ending……
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