National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Governor's Quarters, 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 structure was incorrectly called Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Governors Mansion. The name was changed to National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Governor's Quarters. Secondary names of Hot Springs Veterans Administration Medical Center, Building No. 23, and VA Black Hills Health Care System - Hot Springs Campus, Building No. 23 were also added.
See overview historical context HABS No. SD-24 for additional information on the Battle Mountain Sanitarium and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Significance: Built between 1903 and 1907, Battle Mountain Sanitarium of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) included a grouping of residential structures to house its staff. The NHDVS was a federal institution authorized by Congress in 1865 and charged with caring for Civil War veterans disabled by their military service. By 1930 the system had eleven branches and became part of the new Veterans Administration. The Battle Mountain Sanitarium was the tenth NHDVS facility and the only one built exclusively for medical care. Like military installations in this period, the NHDVS branches each had officers' quarters which resembled fashionable suburban architecture and were assigned according to the hierarchy of rank among the leadership.

Well-known Omaha architect Thomas Rogers Kimball designed the Mission Revival hospital complex as well as the staff quarters. The Governor's Quarters, intended for the chief administrative officer of the Sanitarium and his family, were the largest and most elaborate of the residential structures. Here the Governor also served in a dual role as Head Surgeon, due to Battle Mountain Sanitarium's unique role within the NHDVS system as primarily an acute care medical facility. The Queen Anne-style Governor's Quarters was situated slightly away from the other houses, for more privacy, near the main entrance drive overlooking downtown Hot Springs.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2058
Survey number: HABS SD-24-B
Building/structure dates: 1905-1907 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 11000561