Virginia Medical Center, Aspinwall Division, 5103 Delafield Avenue (O'Hara Township), Aspinwall, Allegheny County, PA

Significance: The VA Medical Center at Aspinwall, Pennsylvania is representative of the Veterans' Bureau's efforts to provide adequate health care facilities for veterans following World World I. During the 1920s the newly formed Veterans' Bureau embarked on an ambitious program aimed at providing health care facilities for American veterans throughout the United States. The Aspinwall facility, which initially operated as a tuberculosis hospital, was the final facility constructed by the Bureau under a 1922 appropriation of $17 million.
The Aspinwall VA Medical Center is a significant architectural ensemble, consisting of Georgian Revival style buildings carefully placed in a landscaped, campus-like setting. The facility was designed and constructed according to the dictates of an "architectural set" developed by the Veterans' Bureau during the early 1920s. This "set" established standardized plans for the various buildings associated with veterans' hospitals, while permitting regional variation in materials and detailing. The set also established policies regarding site location and landscaping. The Aspinwall facility is, therefore, representative of a group of standardized medical facilities constructed by the Veterans' Bureau, operators of the largest hospital system in the United States at the start of World War II.
In 1936, the facility was reorganized as a general care and surgical hospital. The ongoing growth and expansion of the facility, exemplified by major additions to the Infirmary Building in 1932 and 1938, are testimony to the important role played by the Aspinwall Hospital in the provision of medical care to veterans.
Survey number: HABS PA-5438
Building/structure dates: 1924-1925 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1926 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1932 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1938 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1938 Subsequent Work