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Reptilian glee

Entrance to the A.D. Williams Memorial Clinic and Laboratories
1201 East Marshall Street

We found various interesting architectural details around West Hospital, the "brick monstrosity" as Oz calls it. I guess the longer you look at it…

The A.D. Williams clinic is tucked around behind West Hospital and, although it appears to be a mere appendage thereto, was actually built a few years earlier. The cornerstone says 1936. According to the MCV timeline, the laboratory and outpatient clinic opened in 1938 with the construction having been funded by the Public Works Administration. The vertical pillar standing out in the sidewalk supports a skywalk that connects the clinic with a newer hospital building across the street. This building is also slated for destruction by the university.

I really like the snake. It looks very enthusiastic about that staff.

After I took these pictures, I started wondering why there is only one snake per staff rather than two, which is what I recall seeing on various other medical insignia. A few minutes of research resulted in a plethora of material on the subject. In a nutshell, the double serpent staff is associated with Hermes and has commercial and occult connotations (which might explain my health insurance policy), while the single serpent staff is the insignia of Asklepios, a Greek physician who ended up being deified (the whole son-of-Apollo deal) as the god of healing, with all kinds of spectacular cures to his credit.

One snake is better than two, then, but why does this one look so jolly?

258 words | February 20, 2005 10:45 PM | Shutterbug