St. Elizabeths Hospital, Greenhouses, 2675-2689 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

For an overview of the Culture and Recreation Buildings, see HABS DC-349-CA
Significance: The Greenhouses are significant for their association with the overall function of the St. Elizabeths Campus and are an important historic element of the St. Elizabeth campus. The greenhouse complex represents the only agricultural buildings remaining on a campus that was at one point largely self-sustaining, including providing a portion of its food production through its greenhouse, farms, and orchards, as well as its own power generation and waste disposal.
Greenhouses were an integral part of life at St Elizabeths in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Plantings in the greenhouses increased agricultural yield and supplied cut flowers that contributed to the pleasant, homelike environment considered an important part of the treatment program. In describing the propagating house in 1892, Superintendent Godding noted that, "All bedding plants used in decorating the
extensive grounds are brought forward during the winter in this house. They add an element of beauty to the summer landscape, enter into moral treatment of the insane, and so become a medicine to the mind." Moreover, patients were employed in the greenhouses as a therapeutic work activity and an antidote to idleness.

The architectural character of the greenhouses is unique on the St. Elizabeths west campus. Based on research conducted for this project, it appears that the Lower Carnation House and the Rose House are rare surviving examples of nineteenth-century greenhouses, and are therefore architecturally significant locally as well as contributing to the historic character of the St. Elizabeths campus. The Propagation House, Palm House, and North Greenhouse, while of somewhat later construction, are similar to the
original greenhouses and contribute to the cultural and architectural character of the complex. The South Greenhouse, West Greenhouse, and Greenhouse Office are of later
construction and lesser significance; however, they represent the continued evolution of the greenhouse complex as an important component of treatment and activity on the west campus.
Survey number: HABS DC-349-AY
Building/structure dates: 1903 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1914 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1955 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1968 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1925 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 79003101