Dear Readers: the French Hospital is in danger of being torn down by a San Francisco developer. It was converted to an urgent care facility in 2018, and is mostly empty as of this writing.
We wish to echo the concerns previously shared with you by C.C. de Vere, historian of the lost French colony in Downtown Los Angeles, about the redevelopment threat to the French Hospital (531 W COLLEGE ST 90012, case #ENV-2025-3354-EAF).
Her email to you is pasted in below our signature, and appears on her blog at
The proposed mixed use project calls for demolition of the medical facility, and the application wrongly states that there are no historic resources located on or adjacent to the project.
In fact, French Hospital appears on the City's own Survey L.A. website as a potential historic resource under the code QQQ - May be eligible; additional research needed.
Obviously, the French Hospital has been expanded and remodeled many times over its 150+ years of service to Angelenos, and the parcel is presently underutilized, with large surface parking lots. It is not unreasonable to develop something new here.
But the rumors of an original adobe structure within the walls, the similarity between the footprints of the 19th and early 20th century structures, and the possibility that other early material exists within the campus or beneath the soil, all requires a proper archeological assessment and the additional research to validate or dismiss the QQQ code.
The French Hospital is one of our earliest community serving structures, located very near the birthplace of Los Angeles, and all Angelenos have an interest in knowing what treasures and secrets it holds. This place matters, and should not just be sent to the dump!
Even if you *aren’t* crazy about the modern-for-1915 design, it’s one of the oldest hospitals in the city and very significant from a historic-cultural standpoint.
What a wonderful letter! Thank you for speaking up for French Los Angeles.
Someone’s got to do it!
Here's our letter! (and we sent them yours, too)
Dear Ken and Commissioners,
We wish to echo the concerns previously shared with you by C.C. de Vere, historian of the lost French colony in Downtown Los Angeles, about the redevelopment threat to the French Hospital (531 W COLLEGE ST 90012, case #ENV-2025-3354-EAF).
Her email to you is pasted in below our signature, and appears on her blog at
https://www.emptylosangeles.com/p/save-the-french-hospital
The proposed mixed use project calls for demolition of the medical facility, and the application wrongly states that there are no historic resources located on or adjacent to the project.
In fact, French Hospital appears on the City's own Survey L.A. website as a potential historic resource under the code QQQ - May be eligible; additional research needed.
https://hpla.lacity.org/report/26020e64-fc17-45ce-baa2-a76f80dbef62
Obviously, the French Hospital has been expanded and remodeled many times over its 150+ years of service to Angelenos, and the parcel is presently underutilized, with large surface parking lots. It is not unreasonable to develop something new here.
But the rumors of an original adobe structure within the walls, the similarity between the footprints of the 19th and early 20th century structures, and the possibility that other early material exists within the campus or beneath the soil, all requires a proper archeological assessment and the additional research to validate or dismiss the QQQ code.
The French Hospital is one of our earliest community serving structures, located very near the birthplace of Los Angeles, and all Angelenos have an interest in knowing what treasures and secrets it holds. This place matters, and should not just be sent to the dump!
sincerely,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
Esotouric, Looking Out For Los Angeles
http://www.esotouric.com
http://esotouric.substack.com
I walk past this hospital everyday! It’s beautiful! This is terrible news.
Even if you *aren’t* crazy about the modern-for-1915 design, it’s one of the oldest hospitals in the city and very significant from a historic-cultural standpoint.
turns out I am crazy for modern-for-1915 design, these developers are idiots without taste!