The original St. Paul's Hospital was founded in 1894 just eight years after the incorporation of the City of Vancouver by the Sisters Of Providence who founded schools, hospitals and asylums all over North America and other continents. The 25-bed, 4-storey wood frame building cost $28,000. It was designed and constructed by Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart and named after the then-bishop, Paul Durieu of New Westminster. Mother Mary Fredrick from Astoria, Oregon was the first mother superior and administrator to lead its charge. In keeping with the philosophy of the Sisters of Providence, the new hospital was founded on the pledge of providing compassionate care for everyone in need - tested by a surge in Vancouver's growth brought on by the Klondike gold rush in the 1890s. St Paul's became one of the first hospitals with their own X-Ray machine in 1906 and opened its School of Nursing in 1907. In 1912, the original building was demolished and replaced with a new structure to accommodate 200 patients at a construction cost of $400,000. In 2010, the hospital established Angel's Cradle, the first modern Baby hatch in Canada where mothers could anonymously provide their newborns to the hospital rather than abandon them elsewhere. Thirty seconds after a baby has been placed inside the modern version of a 'foundling wheel', a sensor alerts emergency staff. A social worker contacts the Ministry of Children and Family Development which then assumes responsibility for the baby. In its first five years, two healthy babies had been placed in the baby hatch. St. Paul's Hospital is listed on the City of Vancouver's Heritage Register category “A” but is not a designated heritage building and is not protected by legal statute.
Redevelopment
In the 21st Century, there has been ongoing advocacy for redevelopment of the facility. A redevelopment plan was drafted in 2010. In 2012, Premier Christy Clark said at the hospital that business case and development plans would be completed in order to begin construction in 2016. In 2015, questions continued to be raised whether the redevelopment would maintain full range of existing services at the Burrard Street facility or move some services to a new location near False Creek. On April 13, 2015, Providence Health Care and the provincial government announced the hospital services would move to the new site and grow in size from more than 400 beds to more than 700 beds and an integrated health campus that includes a range of outpatient and ambulatory services:
