A Tale of Two Hospitals

For two Montana hospitals recently resurrected, “a little R & R” means a healthy dose of restoration and renovation to create new homes for local residents and a new life for these architectural gems. In the past few years, both the Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City and the old General Hospital in Kalispell have been sensitively renovated into apartments, a transformation well-suited to the needs of their changing and growing communities.

For 100 years the Holy Rosary Hospital was a familiar site in Miles City, but following the hospital's move to a new medical campus in the 1990s, the vacated hospital became a deteriorating, empty shell. In this new century, the Miles City Housing Authority headed by administrator Melissa Hartman created a new vision, to restore and adapt the original hospital and remove a failing 1950s high rise annex. Through five years of planning and meetings, MCHA secured $5 million in loans and grant funds, including federal low-income housing money, and a $50,000 grant from HGTV and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The HGTV grant helped with the rehabilitation work, which included more than 100 new windows, masonry work to restore the façade, and interior utility upgrades. The 1907 hospital and its 1920s addition now contains 21 of Miles City’s most attractive and affordable family housing rental units.  The newly created apartments are within walking distance of schools, shops and downtown, and will help in the ongoing effort to bring life back to the traditional downtown center. Appropriately named the Cornerstone Apartments, the community celebrated its grand opening on November 5.

And hundreds of miles northwest of Miles City, the old Kalispell General Hospital was tailored to fit the need for downtown housing and office space in Kalispell. The handsome brick hospital complex was originally constructed in 1912 to hold 30 beds, with a south wing added in 1948, and a north wing added in 1968.  Not long afterward, the hospital closed and was used for county offices until the late 1990s. In 2005, Eric Berry of DEV Properties rescued the deteriorating building from an owner who was planning to dismantle the building’s charming interior and sell the architectural material for salvage. Instead, Berry strove to keep the historic character-defining features of the building intact, while creating a vibrant mix of new uses including live/work spaces, artist studios, condominiums, retail shops, offices and professional space. The model development, called East Side Brick, welcomes its first residents this fall, carrying out Berry’s vision for long-term preservation of downtown buildings and community sense of place.

Photos courtesy of Sacred Heart School, Miles City and Eric Berry, Kalispell