The cross still standing above the entrance of the former St. Elizabeth Hospital building can just barely be seen peeking out over the top of the structure in the color photo up top, included with some black-and-white historical shots in the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation’s recent call for ideas on what to do with the place. The hospital at 4514 Lyons Ave. opened in 1947 and later gigged as a detox center, substance abuse treatment facility and halfway house before being bought by Riverside General in 1995. The structure was renamed the Barbara Jordan Healthcare Facility until it was shut down in 2014 when Riverside wasn’t able to make ends meet (financially or building-code-wise). The Fifth Ward redevelopment folks bought the property in April.

A site plan drawn up by Gensler shows the current layout of the property, including the original 3-story E-for-Elizabeth main building. Some now-doomed subsections and add-ons are shaded in red, and the convent building, which looks like it might stay in the picture if somebody makes a good case, gets just a warning coat of pink:

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Here’s another back-in-the-day shot of the building’s front entrance:

Anyone with a solid what-how-and-why plan for remaking the space has until October 28th to turn in a few copies to the redevelopment organization.

• Request for Proposals [Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation]
• History [4514 Lyons Adaptive Reuse Project]

Images: Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation (photos), Gensler (site plan)