Today, hospitals tend to be boring structures that look as sterile as the medical treatment they provide. But back in the day, Detroit boasted a hospital as beautiful and ornate as a church. Harper Hospital survives today, though in nowhere near as beautiful as building as this.

Harper traces its origins back to May 1863, when it was announced it would be built on land donated by wealthy real estate tycoon Walter Harper and, interestingly, his housekeeper, Nancy Martin. The hospital would open in a different facility, but on the same site, on Oct. 12, 1864, serving as a general military hospital for wounded Civil War soldiers. It would not serve as a general hospital until January 1866.

On June 19, 1884, Harper opened in this red-brick, Gothic Revival building on John R that was designed by Elijah E. Myers, the architect who a decade earlier designed the Michigan State Capitol, as well as the Capitol buildings in Colorado and Texas.

In 1883, the Farrand Training School for Nurses, later the Harper Hospital School of Nursing, was established.

Harper Hospital continued its legacy as a military hospital by establishing base hospitals in Europe during the first and second World Wars.

The Harper campus grew along with the city's population, with the J.L. Hudson and Theodore D. Buhl memorial buildings being added in 1913, and the Brush Street Building in 1928.

Over its life, old Harper would see the births, as well as deaths, of countless Detroiters. It would also see the rise of modern medicine, which eventually led to the historic hospital building's demolition.

Eventually, changing technology and the desire for different hospital layouts and features led to Harper Hospital building a new facility next to the old. The Gothic Revival hospital was demolished, with that work beginning July 30, 1977.

More on this building coming soon.