St. Elizabeths Hospital, East Lodge Detached Nurses Home, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Southeast 519-543 Redwood Drive, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

For an overview of the Center Building Group, see HABS DC-349-BT
Significance: The East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home (Building 30) is significant for its association with the treatment of mental illness at the St. Elizabeths Campus. Constructed in 1861 as a companion to the West Lodge (1856, no longer extant), the East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home was located south of the Center Building, on axis with the outer corridor of the East Wing (Building 3). Upon completion, the brick structure housed detached patient wards for female African American residents. African American male residents occupied the West Lodge. During the Civil War, male patients were moved to the East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home, as the West Lodge was used as a temporary hospital for
the Navy. A new wing and third floor addition to the East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home was constructed in 1887. The East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home continued to house patients through 1907, when it was converted to a residence for male nurses. In the second half of the twentieth century, nursing staff was relocated to the St.
Elizabeths East Campus, at which time the East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home was converted to office space.

The East Lodge/Detached Nurses Home is also significant for its architectural design. Although the original two-story form of the building was altered with the 1887 addition, the building largely retained its original organization, while the exterior facades and primary interior spaces reflect their original design. Upon completion, the building had cast iron drip molds and window sills, molded brick water table, stone stringcourse, and stone cornice with a crenellated parapet roof and wood battlements. The brick units used in construction of the building were reportedly manufactured on the site.
Survey number: HABS DC-349-AB
Building/structure dates: 1861 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1877 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 79003101