Department of Veterans Affairs – Historic Resource Survey and Preservation Consulting

MASTER PLANNING FOR CLINICAL REALIGNMENT, ARCHITECTURAL & HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONSULTING MULTIPLE VA CAMPUSES IN ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, AND KENTUCKY

STRATA Architecture Inc. served as a consulting historic preservation architect for the VISN 11 division overall Master Plans for seven different campuses located in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The Master Planning efforts for each campus was established as a means of setting the framework for future development on the existing campuses and to help define how the extant historic context is to be incorporated into future planning and design phases of work.

The Veterans Affairs campuses included in this work encompass all three documented periods of construction: First Generation National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers hospitals generally built after the Civil War(Period of Significance: 1865-1930), Second Generation Veterans Hospitals generally built after WWI (Period of Significance: 1919-1950) and Third Generation Veterans Hospitals generally built after WWII (Period of Significance: 1946-1958).

Our work included a reconnaissance level historic resource survey of the existing physical site and extant structures, documentation of exiting conditions and historically important buildings, cultural landscape and viewsheds, historical research and coordination with the various State Historic Preservation Offices and the Veterans Affairs Historic Preservation Office. STRATA produced a historic resource report which highlighted the historic buildings, objects, landscape and features which are most important to the overall historic campus setting for each campus. The assessment report also provided recommendations of how the historic campuses can evolve to accommodate future growth through building additions, new construction and how the possible demolition of contributing and noncontributing resources could potentially affect the overall historic integrity of the campus. Our firm prepared individual historic resource survey sheets for each extant object, structure and building for each campus. STRATA also provided third party historic architectural review of the VA Leestown Division Master Planning work for proposed facility development alternatives.