History Print

Calcutta House, founded over two decades ago by Mother Teresa’s Brothers of Charity in a rented, five bedroom row home in the University City area of West Philadelphia, originally provided a clean, comfortable, accepting and supportive place for ostracized individuals with end-stage AIDS to spend their final months in peace and comfort.

When Calcutta House was founded, the AIDS epidemic was in its sixth year, its public face being white, gay men, some of whom were personalities in entertainment and the arts. At the time, no effective AIDS treatments were available, and resources were very scarce for helping those with this little understood disease. Typically, AIDS led to death within a year of diagnosis. 

When the Brothers left Philadelphia, they entrusted the mission of Calcutta House to a group of volunteers who organized a Board of Directors, sought and received appropriate legal recognition as a 501c3 non-profit, and began to expand services to more individuals. The Brothers’ compassionate care - a hallmark of Calcutta House - continues today under lay administration and oversight.


Within a short time, the Board of Directors directed the construction of a new, larger, facility specifically designed and suited to the more skilled care needs of the acutely ill population who required such care. This facility, later to be known as Independence Place, opened in 1996 and included four adjacent, but separate, apartments for people who were beginning to respond to new drug therapies, and able to live independently without direct care. In 1999, Calcutta House expanded again, this time to an adjoining property, adding 6 more beds, creating a total of 18 private rooms, as well as space for nursing stations and behavioral and rehabilitative care. 

As HIV began to affect new, significantly poorer individuals, many with a history of homelessness, significant substance abuse and mental health issues, Calcutta House received referrals long after their initial infection developed.  These residents were unable to benefit from the new drug regimes and needed the type of nursing and hospice care originally provided by Calcutta House.  To meet this new challenge, the Board moved to create a new facility to address the special needs of people in the end stage of AIDS; named Serenity Court, the 9-bed facility opened In 2004.

As Calcutta House is currently constituted, its two separate, but mutually supporting, facilities reflect the complex and differing needs of people who suffer from a life-threatening disease.  Calcutta House continues to adapt in whatever way necessary to meet the needs of society’s most vulnerable people suffering from HIV/AIDS and, in so doing, maintains its mission, unique among AIDS service providers.