ACHP Chair Sara Bronin, ACHP staff, and members in Washington, D.C. for the ACHP’s summer business meeting traveled across the Anacostia River July 17 for a tour of a historic site with a storied past. The former site of the first federal mental health hospital for members of the armed forces and District of Columbia residents, the Government Hospital for the Insane, is now known as St. Elizabeths after the tract of land on which it was constructed.

St. Elizabeths is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a National Historic Landmark. The site was selected to consolidate the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and consists of 176 acres with 7,000 workers now assigned to the campus. The General Services Administration (GSA) was charged with accommodating 6 million square feet of tenant space for the employees, including 1 million square feet of historic buildings.

The DHS headquarters complex is a mix of new buildings, such as the first permanent U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, and 65 historic buildings, including the Center Building, built in the late 1800s and restored to house DHS, which moved in in 2019. These buildings sit on the West Campus, atop a hill overlooking downtown Washington, D.C., and are owned by GSA. The East Campus is managed by the District of Columbia.

Many of those on the tour had been involved in the historic preservation review process for the project through Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act from the beginning, dating to 2006, including GSA Federal Preservation Officer (FPO) Beth Savage, Department of Veterans Affairs FPO Héctor M. Abreu Cintrón, and ACHP Executive Director Reid Nelson.

Nelson recalled visiting the Center Building when he first started working for the ACHP.

“The Center Building was just a shell, and we entered fearing the floors might cave in,” Nelson said. “It is gratifying to see the building fully restored, with a brand new interior that has a historic look, and in use as the main building for DHS.”

In 2008, numerous consulting parties developed a master plan and a programmatic agreement setting forth a process to resolve adverse effects for each phase of the master plan’s implementation. The plan maintained the character of the campus and preserved views of the D.C. skyline.

“St. Elizabeths integrates an impressive array of sustainability strategies, not just the reuse of older buildings, but large-scale solar arrays, green infrastructure and native plants, and climate-friendly transit, combined with new LEED-certified construction,” Chair Bronin said. “Both DHS and GSA should be commended on the attention they paid to the details and for their sizeable investment in the restoration of this historic campus.” 

DHS, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, and the ACHP recently executed a Nationwide Programmatic Agreement that will make it easier to maintain, repair, and upgrade DHS historic facilities to better address climate resiliency and sustainability.

Susan Barnes, a former ACHP vice chairman and current ACHP observer through her role with the ACHP Foundation, said she advised on the project at its beginning phases.

“At that time, the site was in dire distress; there were pigeons flying around inside the Center Building, and now it has been fully restored,” Barnes said. “DHS and GSA have been creative and inventive in using this building to meet 21st century needs. This project is an example of how agencies have come together and worked for the betterment of our national heritage.”

The site remains under development, and plans are proceeding to restore the smaller historic buildings and put them into DHS use.

Historic walking tours of the campus are offered to the public through November.

St. Elizabeths was the subject of a Section 106 Success Story. Read it here.