{"nrhp_refnum":"93000073","name":"Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh","other_names":["Western Restoration Center"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"2851 Bedford Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.453453747000026,"lon":-79.96870531399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of eight brick buildings on a 4.9-acre hilltop site near the eastern edge of Pittsburgh's Hill District, overlooking the Allegheny River valley. The buildings were built between about 1909 and 1949 by the Tuberculosis League of Pittsburgh as a tuberculosis hospital and related facilities.","why_significant":"The complex is significant in the history of tuberculosis treatment in western Pennsylvania, serving as the headquarters for the League's treatment and research. Its park-like setting and long, narrow buildings with many windows were designed to provide fresh air, sunlight and ventilation, the core treatment of the pre-drug era. The hospital also served as a teaching hospital and provided beds for patients from outside the city.","narrative":"Eight brick buildings on a wooded hilltop above the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh's Hill District make up this former tuberculosis hospital, built by the Tuberculosis League of Pittsburgh between about 1909 and 1949. The layout reflects early twentieth-century treatment, which relied on rest, nutrition, fresh air and sunshine. The buildings are long and narrow, with central corridors, many windows and open porches for fresh-air therapy, and a broad lawn lies at the center of the complex. The main hospital building, completed in 1929 to the design of E. P. Mellon, has five stories, arcaded brickwork and a 150-bed capacity. The League also used the site to train University of Pittsburgh medical students and nurses. The complex is significant for its role in the local fight against tuberculosis, which was the leading cause of infectious death in Pittsburgh around 1900. Its surviving setting and window-rich interiors still convey that treatment.","period_of_significance":"c. 1912-1940","architect_builder":"E. P. Mellon (architect, Building 'D' and Men's Pavilion); Ingham, Boyd & Pratt (architects, Nurses Residence)","architectural_style":"Italian Renaissance Revival; (Northern) Italian Romanesque Revival; Institutional Vernacular","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Buildings were sold to the State in 1955 and used as a mental health facility until the mid 1980s; the complex is largely unoccupied in its current state.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.96139-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/93000073.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000073/a2816457c9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000073/a2816457c9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Lee Paxton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TuberculosisHospitalofPittsburgh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lee Paxton</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TuberculosisHospitalofPittsburgh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997816","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis_Hospital_of_Pittsburgh","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7850840"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/tuberculosis-hospital-of-pittsburgh-93000073/"}