Calcutta House is a nonprofit social service provider that was founded in 1986 by Mother Teresa’s Missionary Brothers of Charity and is now operated without church affiliation. Its mission is to provide hospice care to people with AIDS regardless of race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief. Calcutta House accepts residents in the middle to late stages of the disease. It particularly welcomes the homeless, the indigent, those without family or friends.
This Friday “Legacy” project involved design of a new structure for a twelve person hospice adjacent to an historic brownstone that would contain four independent living apartments and support facilities for both aspects of the operation.
In addition to the living units, the new facility includes common living and dining rooms, kitchen, library, lounges, administrative offices and other support spaces. The building is equipped with an elevator and a class A fire detection and sprinkler system. One of Friday’s main objectives was to create a domestic atmosphere, like that of a large house, rather than an institutional atmosphere typically found in buildings that provide acute care.