Richmond Community Hospital served the Black community for decades. Preservationists want to save it.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Theodore Cooper is not your average camera-toting tourist in Richmond. The Chesterfield County man drove nearly an hour to see an attraction unlike any other.

“Yes. I was raised here on Northside Richmond," Cooper said. "These are my roots. You’re correct. We like to reflect on the good times we had."

It was inside this abandoned building where Cooper took his first breath 71 years ago.

He was born at Richmond Community Hospital on August 14, 1953.

Built in the 1930s, the hospital served African Americans when the city was largely segregated.

Abandoned since the 1980s, Richmond Community Hospital on Overbrook Road has been largely overlooked ever since.

"It doesn’t look good at all. Broken window. Kind of rough," Cooper said. "Nobody is taking care of it. It is just that I needed to come down and see it maybe for the last time. [I] wanted to take pictures of it to pass down to my grandkids. It does bother me. It hurts. It hurts me."

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Virginia Union University is reimagining this site next to campus.

The school and the Steinbridge Group from Philadelphia, which are investing $40 million in VUU, unveiled plans earlier this year to build 200 market-rate and affordable housing units in a six-story structure.

While the old hospital appears to be on life support, some preservationists believe the 92-year-old building dripping with history is worth saving.

Demolishing the hospital will dishonor the memory of the trailblazers who made the landmark a reality during Jim Crow and the Depression, former Virginia delegate and Richmond City Councilwoman Viola Baskerville said.

"It was part of the broader African American hospital movement that came at the turn of the century," Baskerville said. "Virginia Union University has had the facility. It has basically been neglected. Now is the time for us, that we, preserve this piece of history."

Historian and Richmond native Selden Richardson, who spearheaded the preservation of the Leigh Street Armory now home to the Black History Museum, said a similar success story awaits here.

"I feel VUU has deliberately left it in shambles as a signal that this building is worthless and needs to be removed,” Richardson said. “When you think about the hundreds and hundreds of Richmonders who first saw the light of day right here on these steps by their parents. It is heartbreaking to think all of this is threatened."

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The author who penned "Built by Blacks," scoffs at the plans to demolish most of the hospital while incorporating just the Art Deco facade and bricks into the new construction.

“This is a classic symptom of demolition by neglect where an entity just lets a building fall down and eventually someone says, ‘Well, we had to condemn it for public safety,’” Selden said.

We’ve reached out to the school for a comment on their plans.

VUU President Hakim Lucas stated recently, “We are committed to addressing Richmond's housing crisis by providing much-needed affordable housing while preserving the history and legacy of our community. This project is more than just development; it's about creating a sustainable future for Richmond and our students."

Since the school’s plan for the site was announced, the hospital landed on Preservation Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places List. The nonprofit Historic Richmond also sounded the alarm about the hospital’s future.

“I think this is where knowledge is the best preservation tool. People cannot look away once they know what happened here. They cannot be unconcerned. They cannot be indifferent,” Richardson said.

Baskerville, who was born in Richmond, said letters written to the school’s leaders have gone unanswered. The preservationist vows not to stay silent.

“Nothing is 100% confident. But we’re going to try. We’re going to try as hard as we can,” Baskerville said. “We hope that an HBCU, a Historically Black College and University, can understand the importance of saving another Black historical institution.”

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In recent days surveyor sticks and flags have sprouted at the old hospital site. A sure sign that redevelopment plans are moving forward.

Selden Richardson said he hoped the diagnosis of demolition ultimately proves to be a prognosis of preservation.

“I think once you know the history of it, it does speak to you on a very deep meaningful level. It would be a travesty to lose it,” Richardson said. “Truly this is a Richmond story that crosses all racial lines. This is a big piece of Richmond history.”

Whatever happens to the old Richmond Community Hospital, Theodore Cooper is breathing easier knowing his Kodak moments will live on even if the site of his birth does not.

“It's hard to explain how something could be just wiped away and never see them again,” Cooper said. “I got my pictures. Yes. Thank you. I sure do. Thank you. I sure do. I will cherish them. It is a part of history. It is a part of history.”