St. Elizabeths Hospital, Detached Dining Hall, 544-560 Redwood Drive, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

For an overview of the Detached Group, see HABS DC-349-BX
Significance: The Detached Dining Hall is significant for its association with the treatment of mental illness at St. Elizabeths Hospital and for its association with the daily life of the staff and residents of the hospital campus. The expansion of the facility in the 1870s and 1880s, undertaken to relieve the overcrowding of the original buildings, incorporated multiple detached cottages and wards rather than the echelon plan of the original hospital. The Detached Dining Hall was constructed in the 1880s to serve the population of these detached buildings. In addition to meals, the dining hall served as the main social common space for this portion of the campus and featured a stage at the north end of the building.
The Detached Dining Hall is also significant for its architectural design. The building has a distinctive basilica plan, with a continuous central hall area with clerestory windows and lower side aisles. The basic interior form is clearly expressed in the exterior massing of the building.
Also significant is the site placement of this building as the west side of a small quadrangle defined by the Atkins, Relief, and Home. This building group is united by the quadrangle layout and refers to the older Center Building group by use of a common orientation to the diagonal axis.
Survey number: HABS DC-349-AQ
Building/structure dates: 1885 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 79003101