- City:
- Philadelphia, PA
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Civic Facilities, Hospitals and Clinics
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
"The Naval Hospital at Philadelphia was authorized by an act of Congress in 1931, but as insufficient funds were appropriated the buildings were completed with the aid of P.W.A.
The site is a 22-acre plot north of League Island Park and the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The project includes the main hospital building, a nurses' home, corpsmen's quarters, four officers' quarters, a garage, film-storage building, greenhouse, and the necessary services, roads, and walks.
The main hospital building is 13 stories in height. It has a normal capacity of 650 patients in 30-bed wards and single rooms, but could accommodate many more if necessary. There are two main operating rooms, several small rooms for minor operations, and numerous solaria, together with all the necessary service rooms. The structure is fireproof throughout, of steel and reinforced concrete, and the exterior walls are brick. The project was completed in February 1935 at a project cost of $3,188,927.04, of which the P.W.A. supplied $2,346,866.73."
Source notes
C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. "Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration." (1939).Site Details
Federal Cost | Total Cost |
---|---|
$2,346,866.00 | $3,188,927.00 |
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I worked for 3 1/2 years in this hospital in the late 60s and early 70s. The original 650 bed capacity of Main building which I believe was 11 stories high. Those beds were augmented during WWII with two one story wings each that held additional beds to increase the capacity of the entire facility to about 1200 beds. Those additional wings were for Orthopedic and amputee patients and for psychiatric patients and women’s health/maternity patients who were spouses of active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel. It was an absolutely amazing facility and it broke my heart to see it demolished.