The Week of November 1, 2020 — The Time Changed, The Pandemic Continues, Exterior Signs Install, Professional Landscaping Ramps Up, and the Final (Finish) Phase Pushes Forward
The featured image for the first week of November 2020 is of the east elevation of the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and the Loma Linda University Medical Center towers. The suspended platform is slowly making its way up the side of the Adult tower. Once stabilized, the installers will begin installing the MEDICAL CENTER SECTION. To see images of the exterior sign installation progress, click on this link The Exterior Architectural Signage Phase
Another exciting phase of the project is the landscaping. This phase is another indication that the project is nearing the end. It is fun to watch as the planters take shape, and the heavy equipment move the big boxed trees to the sections where they will be planted. To see images of the landscaping progress, click on this link The Landscaping Phase
The Loma Linda University Campus Transformation Project (LLUCTP) Retrospective
September 28, 2015
The former main entrance to the Loma Linda University Medical Center. At the time this photo was taken, the artist rendering of the new hospital(s) had been installed in the median. Closer to the entrance drop-off, traffic had been rerouted as makeready work was had begun.
November 1, 2016
With the iconic Medical Center cloverleaf towers looming over the pit, heavy equipment continued excavation. The project in its embryonic stage with only the artist rendering to go by, the final attributes of the new hospital were difficult to imagine.
November 1, 2017
By the following year, the iconic Medical Center cloverleaf towers still loomed large over the pit from where the new hospital towers would rise. The foundation floors had been poured, the Base Isolators had been placed, and the foundation walls had been poured. Still lingering, were two questions: 1) how would all the pieces come together? and 2) When will the steel columns rise above the security fence surrounding the construction site.
November 1, 2018
The next year, the steel skeleton rose above the foundation walls and the security fence surrounding the construction site. The steel frame of the Children’s Hospital tower stood at its maximum floor height, whereas the Central (elevator) tower and the Adult Hospital Tower had a few more floors of steel to go. In this image, the iconic Medical Center cloverleaf towers no longer loom large over the campus.
October 31, 2019
Twelve months later, on October 31, 2019, the facade on the building was nearly complete. Within days the vertical aerial lift would come down and the leave out-section where the lift was anchored would be sealed.
October 31, 2020
Today, the artist rendering is now a reality. From the northeast corner of the site, the glass towers dwarf the iconic cloverleaf towers in the lower right corner of the frame.
Peering Through the Chain-Link Fence and the Lens of Time
Early in 2016, I took a photo through the south section of the chain-link security fence that surrounded the construction site. Barren was the descriptive word. Gone were the curbs, planters, trees, shrubs, and the parking lot light stands. Asphalt was all that remained of the parking lots. As I stood there peering through that fence, I tried to imagine how the project would evolve over the months and years.
The barren land that would later be known as the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus on which the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and Loma Linda University Medical Center towers will rise eclipsing the iconic Loma Linda University clover-leaf towers. Some five-years later (11.03.20), I stood at the same fence, peering through the fence near the same location. Gone was the barren acreage, Gone from view are the iconic clover-leaf towers, which are now hidden by the glass towers that have been planted on what is now known as the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus.
The Clover-Leaf Towers
Sans the Chain-Link Fence
But First a Half-Century Retrospective From the Archives
Approximately 53-years ago, the new Loma Linda Hospital (as it was known in those days) was nearing completion. This image was taken along Barton Road near the location where the two previous photos were taken. In those days, the iconic clover-leaf towers were the talk of the Inland Empire and the hospital community. In those days, the building was trumpeted as the most aseismic hospital structure in California. The three towers were free-standing, connected only to the (north-south) central tower by expansion joints. I remember standing on the ninth floor of the hospital in the spring of 1971, listening to the vice-president for finance. He demonstrated the free-standing tower to the group as he pulled back a sheet of plywood covering the gap between the two structures revealing the expansion joint.The east elevation on the new Loma Linda University Hospital: Some 52 years ago, the main entrance to Loma Linda University Hospital–as it was known in those days–featured a multi-level pond with a fountain on the west end. This water feature graced the median, with the entrance lane on its north side, and the exit on the south side. Shortly after this photo was taken, the new hospital with its iconic clover-leaf towers was dedicated.
The New Rerouted Main Entrance to the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus
The east elevation of the new Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital (left) and the Loma Linda University Medical Center (right) on the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus. Gone from this angle are the iconic clover-leaf towers. Gone now is the main entrance apron to the driveway on Anderson Street. With this week’s concrete pour, what was left of Medical Center Drive is but a memory. From now on, there will be two entrances onto the campus: 1) the main entrance (nonemergency drop-off) will come off of Prospect Avenue, and 2) the second entrance off of Barton Road will be for ambulatory emergency patients, ambulances, and emergency vehicles. There will. be limited parking in front of the Children’s and Adult Emergency departments.We have seen this image before, however it must be revisited to put the following photo into context as the Main Entrance develops. The Main Entrance Drive and Passenger Loading Zone, which spreads out in front of the Main Entrance Canopy.The Main Entrance the face of the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus as viewed from the roof of the Adult Hospital tower.
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨
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