Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Established	1930
Opened	1931
Current Status	Active
Building Style	Pavilion Plan
Location	Lexington, KY
Alternate Names

History

In 1930, President Franklin D. Roosevelt consolidated and coordinated veterans benefits through the creation of the Department of Veterans Affairs. That same year, construction was underway at the Leestown Road facility. In 1934, the facility was converted to a veterans' neuropsychiatric facility which prompted the construction of many recreational facilities on the campus including a softball field, horseshoe pits and a miniature golf course.

The Main Building is one of eleven original buildings at the medical facility's campus. Though it remains an active center of treatment, construction and development of the campus ceased in 1950 with a total of forty-one buildings of which the Main Building remains the largest and the most ornamental. The focus of the building's symmetrical design is a three-bay projecting pavilion with four terra cotta pilasters beneath the all-seeing oculus in the pediment's tympanum. Until 1950, a wood and copper cupola towered above the pediment, but it was removed in 1950 after having been twice struck by lighting leaving only the cupola's brick base.

Although the number of buildings at the Leestown VA have increased over the years, the overall acreage of the campus has decreased from an original 291 acres to only 135 acres today. With over 92,000 veterans in the Lexington service area, the hospital is an important component to caring for those who have served in uniform. The Leestown facility offers inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment, nursing home and hospice care, home-based primary care, prosthetics and orthotics, geriatrics, optometry, mental health, and substance abuse treatment.

Images

Main Image Gallery: Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center

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