Old Naval Hospital (Temporary Home for Veterans of All Wars)
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- City
- Washington, DC
The Old Naval Hospital at 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE was built in 1866 for $115,000 after President Lincoln asked Congress to fund it in March 1864. Designed to accommodate 50 patients with then-modern amenities -- good ventilation, running water, and gas lighting -- it served the Navy until 1906, when operations moved to a new facility at Observatory Hill.
the building
From hospital to veterans' home. In 1922 the building became the Temporary Home for Veterans of All Wars. Ownership stayed with the federal government, though jurisdiction passed to the District of Columbia in 1962, and the building then sat vacant for years.
A near-miss as mayoral residence. In 2000, Mayor Anthony Williams formed a commission to consider renovating the Old Naval Hospital as an official mayoral residence. The commission instead recommended a new building in Foxhall, and that plan itself collapsed by 2003.
the style
The hospital was built in the Renaissance Revival style, a formal civic idiom suited to a federally funded institutional building of its era.
More on Renaissance Revivalsignificance
The building is a DC Historic Landmark (#L_0294) and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Friends of the Old Naval Hospital have raised money toward its restoration, estimated at $12 million.
nearby
- Marine Barracks and Band Hall
- Christ Church
- Eastern Market (and Interiors)
- Washington and Georgetown Railroad Car House
- The Furies Collective house
- Latrobe Gate