Veterans Administration Center, Officers Duplex Quarters, 5302 East Kellogg (Legal Address); 5500 East Kellogg (Common Address), Wichita, Sedgwick County, KS

Significance: The Georgian Colonial Style Officers Duplex Quarters, Building 8, is a contributing structure within the Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center complex which was historically named the Veterans Administration Center. According to the documentation for a determination of eligibility prepared on a "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form" by the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C., the campus is important as a thematic group illustrative of a major concept in the delivery of veterans' health care. (The Veterans Administration was renamed in 1988 to the Department of Veterans Affairs) The center is also significant for the manner in which standard architectural set designs were used. The veterans hospital is one of at least twenty-nine Georgian Colonial Style facilities constructed from Federal Government architectural set plans. The plans established design standards, placed an emphasis on campuses blending with their immediate environs and that of host communities, and revolutionized patient care by grouping patients together according to health problems. These philosophical and architectural approaches used in hospital design revolutionized medical facilities constructed throughout the United States between 1923 and 1949. Still in operation today are at least thirty-one Veterans Affairs campuses built by 1934. Nationwide these campuses were similar in construction, functional layout, plan, elevation, and general medical care design. In some cases, designs were reused or adapted for other campuses. The architectural treatment of the government hospitals with Georgian Colonial theme included minor variations. Originally, the architectural significance included the interior as well as the exterior of the architectural set of Veterans Administration hospitals. However, the interiors of these facilities nationwide have been extensively renovated until the interior significance no longer exists. The exterior interpretation of these standardized plans is still significant.
Survey number: HABS KS-74-A
Building/structure dates: 1932-1933 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1977 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1982 Subsequent Work