![French Hospital Street Paved New Orleans 1937](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/French_Hospital_Street_Paved_New_Orleans_1937.jpg)
The Peter Claver Building, previously the French Hospital, was a historic building in
. It occupied the square bounded by Orleans, Derbigny, Ann Street, and Roman Streets, just back from Claiborne Avenue.
History
Hospital
It was constructed in 1861 by
La Société Française de Bienfaisance (French Benevolent and Mutual Aid Society of New Orleans), originally offering health care to the city's
Francophone community. It became popularly known as "the French Hospital". The hospital closed in closed on October 31, 1949.
The building was subsequently rented out for offices.
It served as national headquarters of the
Knights of Peter Claver
The Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary is an international Catholic fraternal service order. Founded in 1909 by the Josephites and parishioners from Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Mobile, Alabama, it is the largest and o ...
organization during 1951 to 1974, when a new, adjacent building was constructed to serve as its headquarters instead.
The building was demolished in 1986.
Architecture
The original building was constructed in the
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
style in 1861, relatively late for applications of that style. It was further developed around 1883.
Notable figures
*
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
, who
assassinated U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
on November 22, 1963 in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
, was born at the French Hospital on October 18, 1939.
References
{{reflist
Hospital buildings completed in 1861
Historic sites in Louisiana
Buildings and structures in New Orleans
Defunct hospitals in Louisiana
1861 establishments in Louisiana
Buildings and structures demolished in 1986
Knights of Peter Claver & Ladies Auxiliary
African-American Roman Catholicism