Rear of Old Naval Hospital, Capitol Hill, 9th and Pennsylvania, SE, Washington, DC, 2014.Built a fe
Rear of Old Naval Hospital, Capitol Hill, 9th and Pennsylvania, SE, Washington, DC, 2014.Built a few blocks from the Washington Navy Yard, the 50 bed hospital building was constructed during the Civil War to treat sailors injured in Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay area skirmishes. The building was not completed until after the war ended in1866 and proved too small for the navy sometime in the early 20th century. Since then it has been used for a variety of governmental and civic functions, most recently as the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital as an arts facility. The building has become increasingly decrepit over the past half century, and fund raising to preserve and protect it, and bring the rather grand building back to a more representative example of its architecture, is ongoing. As the picture indicates the old hospital building has suffered some serious indignities over time, and there have been more than a few proposals to demolish it. -- source link
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