Naval Hospital District

Front: Constructed 1940-42, this multi-wing complex was the core of a hospital district established to serve the Charleston Navy Yard (1901). Navy personnel, shipyard workers, and their families first received on-site medical care in tents until a dispensary opened in 1908. U.S. entry into WWI prompted construction of the base’s first hospital, a series of one-story wooden structures where injured soldiers and others received treatment. Reverse: The larger, more modern 1942 hospital was built to serve the shipyard’s growing workforce. By 1945, the district spanned more than 30 acres and included the hospital with treatment wards and administrative and subsistence buildings, housing for nurses and medical officers, and other facilities. Many buildings were designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style. In 1973, the hospital moved to a new site on Spruill Ave.