History and Existing Conditions Jersey City Medical Center History The Jersey City Medical Center Complex first opened as the “Charity Hospital” until Jersey City’s Board of Alderman aquired a larger site in 1882. In 1885, the hospital was renamed Jersey City Hospital and had expanded to two-hundred beds. In 1909, the original building was renovated, adding a new wing for women. In 1917, Jersey City’s famous mayor Frank Hague had big dreams for the hospital and started to expand the complex, building by building. Along with renovating the original building, Mayor Hague and money from the Works Progress Adminstration constructed the following buildings from 1928 through 1941: Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, Fairbank Hall (The Tower), O’Hanlon Hall (no longer part of the complex), Holloway Hall (The Orpheum), The Mercury, The Rialto, The Capitol, Dental College (The Roxy), Murdoch Hall (The Paramount), Pollak Hospital (The Criterion), and a two-story parking garage. In 1936, Mayor Frank Hague and Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicated the hospital the Jersey City Medical Center Complex. By the completion in 1941, the complex had ten major buildings and two-million square feet in total. JCMC was not only one of the first medical centers in the United States and the first in New Jersey, but also an architectural landmark. When JCMC completely re-located to their new location, the buildings were either left vacant or partially occupied. In 1980s, the buildings were accepted on the list of New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places. 2005 marked the beginning of the restoration, the largest residential restoration project in the country and the largest in the history of New Jersey, still on-going today with co-developers Building and Land Technology and Metrovest.
Existing West facade