Staats Hospital

Planning for a combined hospital, theater, and Knights of Pythias lodge in the Elk City commercial district began in the early 1920s. The structure was designed by John Norman in the Classical Revival style — Norman was the second registered Black architect and the seventh registered architect in the state. ^{1 6 7 8} The cornerstone was laid on October 8, 1921. ^{9 10}

The new complex opened on June 26, 1922, ^{11 12} at a cost of $150,000. ^{6 11 12} Grand Chancellor O.J. Rife of the Glendale No. 78 Knights of Pythias Lodge, along with other lodge officers, officiated the dedication that evening, and the building opened to the public on July 1.

The first floor housed the 635-seat Grand Theater — the neighborhood’s first movie house — along with an ice-cream parlor and confectionery. ⁶ The second floor was devoted to office space, while the Knights of Pythias occupied the third and fourth floors. ^{5 6} The third floor contained a banquet room, kitchen, serving room, reading room, pool and billiard room, cigar counter, and restrooms, while the fourth floor held a large auditorium. ⁶

The first floor later became home to Kelley’s Department Store and an American & Pacific grocery. ^{1 5} Around the same time, Dr. Harlan Staats, a physician and Knights of Pythias member, converted the second and third floors into a 67-bed hospital. ⁵

The Glendale No. 78 Knights of Pythias Lodge closed in 1941. ¹³

Staats Hospital closed in 1982 when Kanawha Valley Memorial Hospital relocated to a new 170-bed facility on Pennsylvania Avenue. ¹⁵ Staats Hospital’s 67-bed permit was then sold to St. Francis Hospital for $1.5 million, ¹⁴ but the deal collapsed after a judge ruled the license had to transfer to Kanawha Hospital under a prior agreement.

The now-vacant hospital building was repurposed as St. Francis West Health Care, housing medical offices for St. Francis Hospital. ^{5 8} Over time, the building steadily deteriorated until only one tenant remained on the first floor — Dr. Adla Adi, who went bankrupt in 2010. Adi had sought approval to demolish the building in the early 2000s and had received clearance from the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority (CURA), though demolition never occurred.

In 2012, the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia named Staats Hospital its most endangered building. ² Years of neglect had ruined the roof, and the interior had been stripped of metal and other materials of value. In 2013, the West Side Main Street organization installed mural-painted plywood over the first-floor windows. ⁵

Renovations

In May 2014, father-and-son developers John and Tighe Bullock of Bullock Properties LLC began working to acquire the deteriorating building from American Pride Properties of Florida, a firm specializing in delinquent and defaulted real estate loans and liens that had purchased the property at a 2010 tax auction. ¹

On May 27, the Charleston Area Alliance voted to guarantee a $155,000 loan from the First Bank of Charleston to Bullock Properties for the renovation, secured by a second lien on the property. ² The Alliance also provided a $15,000 grant, while CURA contributed a $230,000 loan. The West Virginia Historic Preservation Office added a $78,000 matching grant for roof repairs, and West Side Main Street contributed a further $20,000 matching grant. ⁴ Bullock added an additional $80,000 toward the $520,000 project. ² CURA also agreed to purchase a parking lot behind the building from Larry Kopelman and lease it back to Bullock. ¹

Bullock Properties closed on the purchase of Staats Hospital on June 13. ³

The first phase of the renovation focused on installing a new roof and converting the first floor into retail or Class B office space. ² A planned second phase would restore the upper floors into office or residential space, with an event area on the top floor. ⁵

Roof repairs kept the building dry through its first winter of renovation. Work on the drainage system and first-floor storefronts began that December. ⁴ Shortly after, crews began surveying the building’s interior and exterior to identify elements worth salvaging and reusing — including the partial tin roof on the first floor, zinc columns, and the exterior facade’s reliefs of Damon and Pythias. ⁵