Workers used a crane last September to remove the cross atop the dome of (CIT)2. The cross was donated to a local religious organization.

(CIT)² brims with potential

Javier Marquez

With Caltech’s acquisition last year of the former St. Luke Medical Center, a landmark property in northeast Pasadena, the original structure and an assortment of later buildings present the Institute with an invaluable opportunity for growth.

“For 1933, it was probably one of the outstanding hospitals in the valley,” says Rick Canny, a project manager with Caltech’s Architectural and Engineering Services. Canny’s task was to head the inspection of the site, renamed the Center for Innovative Technologies, or (CIT)², weigh its potential value to Caltech, and manage the property after its purchase.

Construction was completed in 1933 on the 75-bed hospital that was built to serve the 60,000 residents of the San Gabriel Valley, many of whom had come for the mild and salubrious climate. At that time, the air was considered perfect for tending chronic ailments. It was founded and directed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, an order of Catholic nuns held in high esteem for their work in health care and education.

Situated on a 13-acre parcel of land at the border separating Pasadena and Altadena, the hospital’s well-tended grounds once included a nursery, vineyards, and a small wooded area. Located only four miles from Caltech, the existing structures, parking facilities, and undeveloped land hold much potential for the Institute, whose own campus is running out of space for expansion. (CIT)² is also fortuitously located one block from the city’s extensive data fiber loop, which is of immense importance to information-trading institutions like Caltech.

Now that (CIT)² belongs to Caltech, the question is how best to use it. Canny says that the directors of the Thirty-Meter Telescope are very interested in utilizing space there, and researchers from Caltech and an NSF-funded university consortium have either visited the site or expressed interest. Caltech is also considering the possibility of leasing out some space to industry.

Architecturally, Canny says, the main building blends art deco streaming lines with the moderne style. Intricate grill-work gates still hang above the entryway, while a bas-relief adorns the main door’s lintel facing Washington Boulevard. A dome caps the center tower of the long and narrow edifice. A 12-foot cross stood atop the dome until its recent removal and donation to a local religious order.

In 1947, a convent was completed on the (CIT)² property. A graceful building with a copper roof that has patinated with age, the convent’s top two floors were once lined with tiny and modest cells. But the ground floor, which held the nun’s common areas, had a sun porch that opened out to an enclosed grassy courtyard, shaded by ancient pines.

The convent is connected to the hospital’s chapel, a small and peaceful refuge that holds a choir loft, 20 rows of pews, and a sacristy. Light filters in through painted glass, and the plaster ceiling resembles carved wood.
“The main hospital, convent, and chapel were given landmark designation by the city in 2003,” Canny says. “The nuns moved out about 1980 to a couple of houses on [nearby] Woodlyn Road. They are currently used by Step-by-Step, a child-care agency.”

Over the years, the sisters responded to the growing community’s needs by adding an annex, an emergency-care facility, a radiology building, an acute-care wing, and an obstetric-surgery facility. According to Canny, the interior walls of some of these structures can be removed to create large open spaces. A central plant building with boilers, chillers, and cogeneration equipment provides the facility with electricity as well as cooling and heating.

Eventually, financial realities caught up with St. Luke. Competition came from Huntington Hospital to the west and from Arcadia to the east, home of the ultra-modern 138-bed Methodist Hospital built in 1957.

Today, the former St. Luke Medical Center still bears the marks of human use and habitation, evident in the worn carpeting, the disused desks, the abandoned hospital beds, and the aroma of food that still emanates from the basement kitchen. While Caltech’s planners mull over their options, many of these halls have found a second life as “dressing,” or set props.

Since Caltech took over its stewardship, the hospital has become a venue for production companies to film television series and commercials. The television shows ER, The West Wing, Monk, and Without a Trace have been shot there, as was a hospital scene in the feature film Something’s Gotta Give. Commercials for Burger King, Diet Pepsi, and a bank have also been shot there, Canny says, all of which provide useful revenue to Caltech.

In 1987, (CIT)² opened a new medical office building on the property and leased office space to doctors. This valuable resource to the community is another source of revenue for Caltech, Canny says, and the offices will remain.

Ultimately, whoever utilizes space at the former (CIT)² will have to come to terms with a vestige of the hospital’s past inhabitants: the reputed St. Luke ghost. Some people believe that not all of the nuns moved out in 1980.

Members of the facility’s skeleton crew of security guards, mechanics, and gardeners have reported strange sightings and occurrences, including chapel lights that go out by themselves. “Sometimes I think the guys are here alone too long,” Canny says. “Me, I think I’ve heard footsteps, but it could have just been my imagination.”
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