Infirmary Building, Missouri State Hospital Number 3 – Nevada MO

Description

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction the Infirmary Building, Missouri State Hospital Number 3 in Nevada, Vernon County. The Infirmary was part of a larger program in the state of Missouri that sought to rehabilitate overcrowded healthcare and penal facilities. Funding for the program came from a state bond that was matched by a PWA grant of eight million dollars. The program employed 34 architectural firms.

The building was designed by the Kansas City architecture firm Caroll and Dean. A plaque located at the entrance and bearing the date 1937 reads, “Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Project Number 5131-1.” The facility was dedicated to the treatment of infirm and tubercular patients at the state mental hospital complex. Designed in PWA Moderne style, the structure follows the Kirkbride plan for asylum design, a typology commonly used for hospital facilities throughout the United States around the turn of the century. The X-shaped layout provides natural light to a central administration block and four wings containing men and women’s wards. The four-story building has a flat roof and is made of reinforced concrete with brick masonry walls. The brick facade features minimal architectural elements and vertical lines typical of the Art Deco/Art Moderne style.

Current state of the building: The infirmary closed in 1991 when the state hospital closed. The building was vacant and unused for a number of years. It has since been renovated and converted to low income and senior residential apartments. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.