St. Elizabeths Hospital, Pine, 539-559 Cedar Drive, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

For an overview of the Center Building Group, see HABS DC-349-BT
Significance: Pine (Building 6) is significant for its association with the treatment of mental illness at the St. Elizabeths campus. As part of the Center Building group (Buildings 1 through 6), Pine formed an integral part of the function and use of the campus for the treatment of mental illness and related disabilities and remained in use for patient treatment into the second half of the twentieth century. Although physically part of the Center Building group, Pine, built in 1884, was a relatively late addition to the complex and is
more reflective of the expansion of the campus that occurred in the late nineteenth century. Upon its completion, Pine housed female patients of the most disruptive and unruly class.
Pine is also significant for its architectural design. The design incorporates some Gothic Revival-style elements, such as window hoods and wood window sash with narrow divided lights, which characterize the Center Building group. Pine also features elements that relate it to the free-standing buildings built at the same time (for example Home, Building 36), such as a continuous sheet metal cornice, rather than the
crenellated parapet wall used elsewhere in the Center Building group. The open concrete porch added to Pine in the 1920s is distinctive for its streamlined, industrial aesthetic; this porch served as a prototype for porches added later to the West Wing (Building 3) and Garfield (Building 5), among other buildings on the campus. Pine was
connected to a railway system that ran through the basement of the Center Building group and adjacent free-standing buildings. Originally, the railway system allowed for the quick transport of food from the bakery and kitchen as well as supplies between buildings.
Survey number: HABS DC-349-AA
Building/structure dates: 1882-1884 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 79003101