National Institutes of Health, Industrial Hygiene Laboratory, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Montgomery County, MD
Summary
Significance: The Industrial Hygeine Laboratory, constructed in 1938, is one of the original laboratory buildings built for the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, and the first laboratory built solely for the study of industrial hygiene in the nation. The Georgian Revival building is one of a set of buildings built to serve as the nucleus for the national research center. The other two buildings constructed in 1938 were the Administration Building (Building 1) and the Public Health Methods & Animal Unit Building (Building 3). Planned around a central, landscaped square, the Administration Building was flanked to the northeast by the Industrial Hygiene Laboratory and to the southeast by the Public Health Methods & Animal Unit Building. As one of the three earliest buildings erected on the NIH campus, Building 2 contributes to the early history of the institution as a center for the study of disease. The Division of Industrial Hygiene of the United States Public Health Service was concerned primarily with maintaining the health of industrial workers across the country, and investigating the causes and effects of occupational accidents and diseases. The research conducted by NIH scientists in the Industrial Hygiene Laboratory produced dramatic improvements in working conditions and in the overall health of the civil population. These developments proved crucial to meeting the challenge of keeping the American people healthy during World War II, preventing disease, and providing military personnel with the finest medical care in history.
Survey number: HABS MD-1102-A
Building/structure dates: 1938 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1942 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1967 Subsequent Work
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