The New City Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. (General) is pictured in color on a 1908 postcard, published by Hall Brothers at the time the hospital was built. The long-necked terra cotta gargoyles atop the two towers are silhouetted against a blue sky. A small shed stands on a grassy lawn in the background. The fortress like six-story brick building, still showing no cracks today in walls or foundation, cost approximately $425,000. Built of gray brick laid in white mortar, the fireproof structure is pictured on 23rd Street, facing north. McCoy is on the east. The floors are hardwood laid on concrete, the windowsills marble. The corners of the rooms are round. There were 10 sun parlors where convalescents find relief from the melancholy atmosphere of the various wards, wrote Carrie Whitney in her 1909 history of Kansas City. In these little parlors the patients come under the cheering influence of the sunshine and have a broader view of the outdoors. The wards have a constant supply of pure air at the desired temperature. Two fans 16 feet in diameter pump each minute 57,000 cubic feet of air into the building passing through a long shaft, the air enters the 'washer' where it is forced through a spray of water...(and) cleansed of dust and germs.To the right of the main entrance is a bronze tablet with these words: Because of his love for his fellow man, Thomas H. Swope gave to the people of Kansas City the site of these buildings. A bronze tablet on the left of the main entrance bears this inscription: Built by the people of Kansas City, her officials, her physicians, her architects, her artisans - each doing his part with loving thought of the good uses of these buildings. The city plans demolition of the empty and unused building this summer, the ground to be used for the parking of cars. Kansas City Times, May 17, 1985.
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