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The original Warren Candler Hospital’s facade is fully exposed for the first time in 45 years, and it’s far from pretty with its decrepit-looking front porch and scarred brick and stucco.
The 194-year-old building’s current state of unsightliness is only temporary, however.
Construction crews on Friday demolished a diagnostic treatment center added to the former hospital complex in 1968. The removal of the addition will allow for the rehabilitation of the historic facade over the next several months, as well as the eventual reopening of Huntingdon Street between Drayton and Abercorn streets.
Come October, the Candler complex’s current tenant, the Savannah Law School, will have expanded into the restored historic part of the structure.
“We think we’ll have the prettiest law school in America,” said Richard Lynn, dean of the John Marshall School of Law, which operates the Savannah Law School.
The law school launched last September with 45 students housed temporarily in a section of the Coastal Georgia Center. Late last year, faculty and students moved into the brick wing that runs parallel to Drayton Street and overlooks the Candler Oak and Forsyth Park beyond.
Improvements to the interior of the 1819 building have been ongoing since the brick wing opened. The space is to house the law school’s library and administrative offices, as well as a courtroom.
Lynn expects to dedicate the building in October in conjunction with accreditation visits from the Georgia Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Lynch Associates Architects designed the facade improvements with an eye toward restoring the Italianate-style appearance applied to the building during an 1877 remodeling. The work, being done by J.T. Turner Construction, is to include a restoration of the three-story porch and a re-creation of the wooden cupola that once sat atop the hospital.
The project represents a “true preservation event,” according to Sarah Ward, the historic preservation director for the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission.
The eventual reopening of Huntingdon Street is a significant side benefit of the project, Ward said. Construction of the diagnostic treatment center across Huntingdon sealed off Forsyth Park physically and visually to residents, businesses and tourists to the east.
The reopening will promote greater pedestrian activity through the corridor and the area, she said.
“Outside of the recent restoration of Ellis Square, I cannot think of another project in recent years that has done as much to preserve the urban plan and the historic district,” Ward said.
