National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Conservatory, 500 North Fifth Street, Hot Springs, Fall River County, SD

The name of the overall site and some individual buildings were edited after the initial photographic survey was transmitted. Previously the site was incompletely called Battle Mountain Sanitarium, and this building was incorrectly called Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Greenhouse. The primary name was changed to National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Conservatory. Secondary names of Hot Springs Veterans Administration Medical Center, Building No. 16 and VA Black Hills Health Care System - Hot Springs Campus, Building No. 16 were added.
See overview historical context HABS SD-24 for additional information on the Battle Mountain Sanitarium and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Significance: The Conservatory was a support structure built for the Battle Mountain Sanitarium of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in 1905-1907. Well-known Omaha architect Thomas Rogers Kimball designed the Mission Revival hospital complex as well as a variety of support structures including the Conservatory. Prominent Kansas City landscape architect George Kessler prepared a landscape plan for the Sanitarium that included curved roads and ornamental plantings. The Conservatory was used to as a nursery to grow plants for the grounds. Many of the NHDVS branches included similar greenhouse facilities in order to inexpensively beautiful the landscape and provide therapeutic gardening work for veterans. The Conservatory was situated north of the main hospital complex, along the road to the adjacent veterans' cemetery on the hill. A artificial pond was created in front of the Conservatory to enhance the scenery. Only the center section of the Conservatory and a rear potting shed are extant; the side wings have been demolished.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2060
Survey number: HABS SD-24-H
Building/structure dates: 1905-1907 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1960 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 11000561