San Francisco Chinese Hospital

Historian Him Mark Lai cites three factors that made it difficult for early Chinese immigrants to seek medical care:[4]

1. Many hospitals refused to treat Chinese patients
2. Most hospitals were distant from Chinatown, and prospective patients were subject to attack en route
3. Most Chinese immigrants did not have sufficient knowledge of English to communicate with American doctors

In 1888, the Chinese Hospital Association sought permission to erect a hospital in the University Mound neighborhood, but the Board of Supervisors referred the request to committee instead, based on opposition from existing property owners.[5] Several so-called Chinese hospitals were established in San Francisco as privately run institutions of poor repute, mainly functioning as hospices and morgues, throughout the late 1800s.[6][7][8]

Chinese Hospital traces its origins to 1899,[9] when the Oriental Dispensary, with ties to the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in Hong Kong, was founded[10] over the protests of property owners on Sacramento Street.[11] The Tung Wah Yi Kuk opened at 828 Sacramento Street, a site currently occupied by the Willie "Woo Woo" Wong/Chinese Playground.[4] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, it relocated to 14 Trenton Street.[4] However, the building was small at 25 by 60 ft (7.6 by 18.3 m) and not adequate to meet community demands.[4]

The facade of the now-demolished 1924 hospital. The 1979 annex stands uphill.

A site was acquired to expand the existing dispensary on Trenton in 1920, and the Chinese Six Companies convened a meeting of 15 community organizations, who boldly decided to build a modern hospital instead, which would require extensive fundraising; the 15 organizations met again in October 1922, forming the hospital's Board of Trustees, and acquired the land where the present-day hospital stands in August 1923 for US$10,500 (equivalent to $180,000 in 2022).[4] From 1923, Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area contributed $145,000 towards the construction, and the goal of $200,000 was reached by early 1925.[4] The modern Chinese hospital, in concrete and steel, with a touch of Oriental style in the roof lines, was completed at 835 Jackson St. in 1924[12] and opened on April 18, 1925, with a huge Chinatown celebration lasting several days.[13][14]

By the early 1970s, the original building did not meet earthquake and fire standards established in 1947, and income (mainly derived from rental properties in Chinatown) was not adequate to provide sufficient funds to improve it.[4] A new annex was built in 1979 at 845 Jackson Street, housing 54 beds. With the opening of the 1979 hospital annex, the original 1924 building was converted to a Medical Administration Building.[12]

In 2012, Chinese Hospital announced plans to build a replacement hospital building in the space where the 1924 building currently stood. The new building would take over patient care from the 1979 building, and the 1924 building would be demolished as it was seismically unsafe.[15] The plans were approved and the 1924 building was demolished, despite significant opposition by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP).[16] The NTHP commemorated the 1924 building as one of ten historic sites lost in 2013.[17] There was a 41-space parking garage behind the 1924 building which was also demolished to make room for the new building.[12][15]

As of September 2016, the new eight-story, $180 million building called the Patient Tower was set to officially open.[18] The replacement hospital building was planned to have 54 beds and add a new 22-bed skilled nursing facility; the 1979 building would be converted to serve as a Medical Administration and Outpatient Center.[12] Fundraising for the project was spearheaded by Rose Pak, a Chinese American activist who died September 18, 2016.[19]