The Cunningham Sanitarium was a health institution in Cleveland, Ohio. Led by Dr. Orval J. Cunningham from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

the facility was constructed to offer oxygen therapy on a large scale. The main structure for delivery of the treatment was a 900-ton steel sphere built in 1928. Consisting of five stories, the sphere stood at 64 feet and contained 38 rooms. 350 portholes helped to illuminate the rooms. The building was funded and built by the Timken Roller Bearing Company and linked to the three-story sanitarium hotel. It opened on December 1, 1928. Dr. Cunningham chose to build the sanitarium at 18485 Lake Shore Boulevard near East 185th Street. The site, along the shore of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

, was chosen for its aesthetics. Dr. Cunningham believed that he could treat cancer and diabetes with

hyperbaric medicine Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

. Dr. Cunningham sold the site to

James Rand Jr. James Henry Rand Jr. (November 18, 1886 – June 3, 1968)"James Henry Rand Dead At 81," ''New York Times,'' June 4, 1968.Ingham, ''Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders,'' 1983. was an American industrialist who revolutionized the b ...

, son of one of the cofounders of

Remington Rand Remington Rand was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand w ...

and protégé of Cunningham, in 1934. Rand reopened the buildings the following year as the Ohio Institute of Oxygen Therapy, making use of the unique facility. It did not last long and was soon turned into a general hospital under the name Boulevard Hospital. Financial problems led to its closure in 1937 and the site lay dormant until it was bought by the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland The Diocese of Cleveland ( la, Dioecesis Clevelandensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. Pope Pius IX erected the diocese April 23, 1847, in ter ...

. The Cunningham Sanitarium building was razed on March 31, 1942 and the steel was used in the war effort. In 1950 the ground on which the sphere stood was turned into a school, St. Joseph High School, now the

Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School is a private Roman Catholic college-preparatory high school located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The school's name is commonly abbreviated VASJ. It was formed by the 1990 merger of Villa Angela Academy (all ...

. The main building was used as a hospital, Catholic Youth Organization headquarters and orphanage before becoming the St. Joseph Christian Life Center. This building was razed in 2010 and the property is used for green space by the Hospice of the Western Reserve, which owns the land.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , title=CUNNINGHAM SANITARIUM , publisher=Case Western Reserve University , url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cunningham-sanitarium/ , accessdate=30 March 2018 {{cite web , title=The Cunningham Sanitarium , publisher=Cleveland Historical , url=https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/378 , surname=Choffin , first=Morgan , accessdate=30 March 2018 Buildings and structures in Cleveland Demolished buildings and structures in Ohio Buildings and structures demolished in 2010