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Preserved artwork of Worcester City Hospital revealed
October 29, 2014
Dr. Leonard Morse and Harry Dewey help unveil a restored plaster relief Tuesday at Family Health Center on Queen Street. The sculptures once lined the walls of Worcester City Hospital's amphitheater. (CHRIS CHRISTO)
WORCESTER — It was quick thinking that led to the rescue of two vintage pieces of sculpted plaster at the old Worcester City Hospital site.
And determination that made sure they stuck around.
About two years ago, retired physician and former city Health Commissioner Dr. Leonard Morse said, he was walking through the construction site of the amphitheater at the former hospital, now a parking lot for the new Family Health Center on Queen Street. The doctor said he was devastated to see pieces of a striking plaster work crushed on the floor.
"I saw all this destruction. And I said, 'What's on the floor?' Because on the floor were these beautiful tondos. … And they were down," he said. "The construction workers didn't realize."
Two of three artful plaster medallions, or tondos, were saved thanks to Dr. Morse's efforts, in collaboration with Noreen Johnson-Smith, vice president of development and advancement at the Family Health Center. The restored pieces were unveiled at a small ceremony inside the nonprofit medical center Tuesday morning.
Mr. Morse and Ms. Johnson-Smith worked to secure a grant from Hoche-Scofield Foundation to ensure that pieces that once lined the walls of the historic amphitheater of the 19th-century hospital would remain. Today, a piece presumed to have been crafted in the 1930s will live in the waiting room of one medical team's office. The piece depicts Dr. William Harvey, an English physician in the 1600s who is considered the first to describe in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart.
The second piece, featuring the caduceus, the serpents-and-staff symbol of the medical profession for a century, will sit outside the windows of the center's in-house pharmacy.
Family Health Center President and CEO Frances Anthes said the works symbolize the medical center's continued commitment to offering care to patients. She then assisted Dr. Morse in pulling a purple sheet off the artwork.
"It's a humbling honor to have a legacy of Worcester City Hospital, which in our mind is very congruent with our mission of serving all people, regardless of their ability to pay," she said. "So we're particularly pleased to have ways in which we remember the legacy of Worcester City Hospital on our walls."
The center's chief medical officer, Gregory Culley, said having the pieces around ensured the spirit of former medical experts would live on.
Mary C. Erickson, 72, of Shrewsbury was a present "living legacy" of the former hospital, according to staff who introduced her at the ceremony. She served in the old hospital administration for more than two decades and continues to work part-time, in the Family Health Center's medical records office.
"It was hard to see it go," Ms. Erickson said of the old building. "We have such wonderful memories."
Samantha Allen
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
2014 News
