Capitalization rules for shortened / metonymic versions of proper noun building names

Question

If you refer to a building or place ("Westminster Abbey", "Dodger Stadium", "Cedars Hospital", "Library of Alexandria") whose name is a proper noun which combines a unique identifier ("Westminster") with a category noun ("abbey") by its full name, you would capitalize all portions of the noun. If you omit the generic / categorical portion of the name, you continue to capitalize the remaining portion of the name ("I'm going to Cedars", "They held the coronation at Westminster").

But when omitting the unique identifier, and using the categorical noun as a metonym, it's less clear what should be done. If you're in a place with exactly one cathedral, should you say "I'm going to the cathedral" or "I'm going to the Cathedral" when "Cathedral" is part of the building's name?

Trying out various examples I can't seem to find a consistent pattern for what feels right in my head, and it's not clear.

Answer 1

It depends on whether you consider "cathedral" to be part of a name or not, and there is no universal, ironclad rule for determining that. I believe that in most contexts, people would usually consider it a common noun and thus in no need of capitalization. However, names that are shortened to their "common" parts are often capitalized, such as:

The New York Times -> The Times
Long Island -> the Island
the English Channel -> the Channel
the U.S. Capitol -> the Capitol
the Fourth of July -> the Fourth

In general, if you believe that a term is a shortened form of a name, then keep it capitalized. If you think that it refers to a thing generically, then keep it lowercase. In many situations, this will be a matter of opinion and either option will be acceptable. (For example, the body of water between England and France is the Channel but also a channel.)

Answer 2

This is a matter of style, and there are many styles. In general, though, when we separate a common noun from its place name, it becomes common and we use lowercase. (I’m going to Dodger Stadium. → I’m going to the stadium.)

But some places have achieved “epithet” (nickname) status, and different rules might apply.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style:

8.48: Popular place-names or epithets
Popular names of places, or epithets, are usually capitalized. Quotation marks are not needed. Some of the following examples may be used of more than one place. None should be used in contexts where they will not be readily understood . . .

Here a few pertinent examples offered:

the Cape
the Delta
the Gulf
the Loop (Chicago)
Midtown (Manhattan)
the Village (Greenwich Village)

Again, this a matter of style. While the AP Stylebook says (of Buckingham Palace): On second reference, use the palace, the queen — er, Queen — (may she rest in peace) might have other ideas.

Answer 3

If you refer to a building or place ("Westminster Abbey", "Dodger Stadium", "Cedars Hospital", "Library of Alexandria") whose name is a proper noun

Let me stop you right there. What we capitalize are not proper nouns but proper names. "Cedars Hospital" is a proper name, but it is not a proper noun—in fact, it's two separate words, so it isn't a noun at all.

Within the proper name "Cedars Hospital" you have two nouns. The first of those ("Cedars") is indeed a proper noun. But the second one ("hospital") is a common noun, as shown by the fact that you can use it uncapitalized in a variety of contexts with the same meaning ("there was a hospital nearby").

A proper noun is always either a proper name or part of a proper name. Thus, when you use "Cedars" on its own, it remains a proper name, and is capitalized.

However, while common nouns can be part of a proper name (like the "hospital" in "Cedars Hospital"), they usually aren't. So in general there's no reason to capitalize "hospital" on its own, even if you happen to be referring to one particular hospital with "Hospital" in its name; this is because "Hospital" on its own is not, in the way one would generally use it, a name for the hospital.

So, in the "Cedars Hospital" example, the correct answer is "the hospital," not "the Hospital."

It should be noted that, while all proper nouns only occur as or within proper names, some proper names do not contain any proper nouns: "The Free Dictionary," "The Human Genome Project," "The Guardian," et cetera.

(My source for this is Huddleston & Pullum (2002).)