23 Sep 2025

Loch Raven Veterans Administration Medical Center: Historic Context and National Register Evaluation

Abstract: This project was undertaken to provide the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Construction and Facilities Management Office, with a National Historic Preservation Act, Section 110, evaluation of the Loch Raven Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center. The approximately 14.85-acre medical center is located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Construction and Facilities Management Office tasked the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) with inventorying and assessing the Loch Raven VA Medical Center for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places through the creation of a historic context, a description of current conditions, and an analysis of those elements using the appropriate National Register bulletins. The authors recommend that the Loch Raven VA Medical Center not be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places due to a lack of architectural and landscape integrity of the complex; however, it is recommended that Building 1 be reevaluated for the National Register when it turns 50 years of age in 2046.

17 Sep 2025

Spring House, 666 Front Street, Lahaina, Hawaiʻi: Historic American Buildings Surveys HI-676

Abstract: The US Congress codified the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), the nation’s most effective cultural resources legislation to date, mostly through establishing the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The NHPA requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources, which are defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. Section 110 of the NHPA requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources, and Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on those potentially eligible for the NRHP. Lahaina is located in the western part of Maui County, in Hawaiʻi. The Spring House, erected circa 1823, is currently scheduled for demolition due to its major fire damages. This report documents the building to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey and includes a historic context, architectural descriptions, photographs, and measured drawings. This report satisfies Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as amended and will be used by FEMA to document the building before its demolition.

12 Sep 2025

Veterans Administration Fourth Generation Historic Context

Abstract: The period of significance for fourth generation of Veterans Administration (VA) medical centers ranges from 1955 to 1977. This period encapsulates a surge of VA medical center construction with congressional funding, dating from the release of the 1955 congressional report Nonbed Betterments in Veterans Administration Hospitals—Need for Renovation and Construction to the adoption of the Veterans Administration Medical Facilities Acquisition Act of 1977. New medical centers constructed by the VA during this time may be eligible under Criterion A for their association with health care and medicine, specifically the development of education and research relationships with medical schools. These partnerships advanced therapies, technology, and hospital operation in support of the VA’s mission to provide quality medical care for veterans. To support these partnerships, VA medical centers were commonly built adjacent to or within medical school complexes. Additionally, fourth generation VA medical centers may be eligible under Criterion C for embodying distinctive architecture or landscape architecture characteristics of mid-century modern hospitals or representing an important contribution in a significant architect’s career. This report provides a comprehensive historic context for the design, construction, and operation of new fourth generation VA medical centers in support of Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). It does not include other VA medical facilities constructed during this period, such as psychiatric and rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, domiciliaries, and research and education buildings.

14 Aug 2025

Buffalo Mole (South Pier): National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

Abstract: The United States Congress codified the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), the nation’s most effective cultural resources legislation to date, mostly through establishing the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The NHPA requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources, which are defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. This document contains the nomination form and all supporting documentation for listing the Buffalo mole (South Pier), located at the entrance to the Buffalo harbor in New York, on the NRHP. The area on top of and surrounding the mole was modified through the past two hundred years, many of the character-defining features remain including the stone retaining walls, talus, stairs, and lighthouse identified in plans and drawings from the period of construction. Notably lost is the stone tow path, or banquette, and the stone incline on the south side of the mole is no longer visible. The researchers recommend a period of significance of c. 1820 through 1959 since the mole has continued its original use of keeping the entrance to the Buffalo River open for freight and recreational boating traffic through the present day.

14 Aug 2025

Ohio Army National Guard, St. Marys Armory: Historic Buildings Survey

Abstract: St. Marys Armory is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion A for being constructed during the Interwar Armory Construction Program (1920–1940 era) and under Criterion C for its design of castellated, Art Deco, and Art Moderne architectural styles. This report documents the building to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey and includes a historic context, architectural descriptions, photographs, and architectural drawings. This report satisfies Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 as amended and will be used by the St. Marys Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG) for mitigation. This documentation fulfills Stipulation II of the Memorandum of Understanding Among the Adjutant General of Ohio and the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (OHSHPO) Regarding Disposal of St. Marys Armory, Auglaize County, Ohio.

23 Jul 2025

Mill Springs Mill: A History of Motion

Abstract: The Mill Springs Mill is found in south-central Kentucky, within Wayne County, a county bordering Tennessee. The mill, spring pools, granary, and recreation area are owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The site has run as a grist mill ever since its construction in the 1800s but has also been given other purposes, such as a roadside park starting in 1949 until the late 1970s and then a USACE recreation area. The mill is listed on the NRHP, while the grounds are part of the Mill Springs Battlefield which is on the NRHP and also a National Historic Landmark. This manuscript provides a comprehensive history for the features and buildings at the Mill Springs Mill.

1 Jul 2025

Bruce Goff and the Camp Parks Entrance Sign: Bruce Goff’s Life, Achievements, Design Philosophy, and Military Contributions at Camp Parks, California

The Camp Parks entrance sign in Camp Parks, California was recommended eligible by the Army for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1998 under Criterion C and the California Office of Historic Preservation concurred with that decision in 1999. Designed by renowned architect Bruce Goff while stationed by the Navy at Camp Parks, the sign holds a significant value in the architectural industry, although the sign is no longer used for its initial purpose. All structures, especially historic ones, require regular planned maintenance and repair. The most notable cause of historic structure element failure or decay is not the fact that the historic structure is old, but rather, it is caused by incorrect or inappropriate repair or basic neglect of the historic building fabric. This document is a report detailing historic information regarding Camp Parks, the life and success of Goff, as well as the 3D scanning, and the subsequent relocation of the Camp Parks entrance sign. This report satisfies Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 as amended and will aid in management of the sign by personnel at Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Parks.

9 May 2025

Mill Springs Mill, Kentucky: A History and Analysis

Abstract: The US Congress codified the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, the nation’s most effective cultural resources legislation to date, mostly through establishing the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The NHPA requires federal agencies to address their cultural re-sources, which are defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. Section 110 of the NHPA requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources, and Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on those eligible or potentially eligible for the NRHP or listed on the NRHP. The Mill Springs Mill is found in south-central Kentucky, within Wayne County, a county bordering Tennessee. The mill, spring pools, granary, and recreation area are owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The site has run as a grist mill ever since its construction in the 1800s but has also been given other purposes, such as a roadside park starting in 1949 until the late 1970s and then a USACE recreation area. The mill is listed on the NRHP, while the grounds are part of the Mill Springs Battlefield, which is on the NRHP and also a national historic landmark. This report provides a comprehensive historic context for the features and buildings at the Mill Springs Mill in support of Section 110 of the NHPA.

21 Mar 2025

Cultural Landscape Management Plan for Mare Island Naval Cemetery, California

Abstract: This project was undertaken to provide the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration with a cultural landscape manage-ment plan for Mare Island Naval Cemetery. The approximately 2.5-acre cemetery is located in Vallejo, California, and contains more than 900 burials. Mare Island Naval Cemetery is part of the Mare Island Naval Ship-yard historic district, which was listed concurrently on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark in 1975. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) was tasked with writing a cultural landscape management plan for Mare Island Naval Cemetery. Based upon the findings of the historic landscape inventory. Treatment recommendations were made to rehabilitate the historic landscape as well as to provide a sustainable plant list for the cemetery.

28 Jan 2025

“One Grand, Glorious National Cause”: A Cultural Geography of the Veterans Affairs Built Environment

Abstract: The United States government has a long history of providing medical, financial, and burial benefits to American Veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its predecessor agencies constructed much of the built environment that served as a conduit for these benefits. Today, the VA manages and maintains more than 15,000 buildings and structures to serve the Veteran community. To facilitate the transfer of property rights of its vacant and underutilized properties and ensure compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation issued a Program Comment at the request of the VA on 26 October 2018. The Program Comment mitigation requires the VA to produce a readily accessible public-benefit document of interest to a wide audience composed of Veterans and lay people. This book provides that public-benefit document through a cultural geography of the built environment of VA facilities. This book focuses on the sense of place developed by Veterans toward VA facilities and covers three generational periods as defined by the VA: post–Civil War through World War I, World War I through the end of World War II, and post–World War II through 1958.