The Death of a Hospital

I was sad to read recently that Saint Vincent de Paul, one of the oldest and most famous children’s hospitals in Paris, will shortly close its doors for the last time. Last year I wandered around the already crumbling site and found it to be full of charm, but consolidation and rationalisation have proven to be more powerful words.

On a hot day almost exactly one year ago I walked past the entrance to the Hopital Saint Vincent de Paul, and felt compelled to stop and take a look around. Hospitals are always quiet places, but Saint Vincent de Paul was particularly calm that afternoon. I was attracted by the shady spaces and silent pathways, a respite from the noisy Avenue Denfert Rochereau I was walking along.

Entire buildings seemed to be empty, although doors remained wide open. I walked up steps and down staircases, along corridors and into deserted lecture theatres. I found a neat concrete war memorial, heroically symmetrical. On the main passageway, a spirited wall protest, messages scribbled from patients and families imploring authorities to keep the hospital open.

But nobody was around to hear those voices. Even the hospital chapel was closed. Alongside, a twisting staircase heading heavenwards. This was the hospice des Enfants-Assistés, a site dedicated to the safekeeping of children, but one that had confused its calling. In 2005, 351 foetuses were discovered here in a laboratory. No one knows who and no one knows why.

A place nevertheless where generations of children were born, their birth screams staining the floors and walls. Soon these will be torn down, leaving these children orphans of a birthplace. The services will move down the road to the Hopital Cochin and the Hopital Necker. Boxes will be filled with memories, but many others will be judged redundant and burned.

What happens to hospitals when they die? Saint Vincent de Paul is a 3.2 hectare zone of prime left-bank real estate. The site will be reborn but the name will be sent to the archives. The site will be bought, buildings raised to the ground and new developments forced upwards. Perhaps a new écoquartier in 2016, a ghetto for the rich, if the city of Paris has its way.