Approximately 65 veterans began their transition out of homelessness recently when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reopened Building 209, a former mental health hospital on the VA’s historic West Los Angeles campus that architects LEO A DALY have transformed into therapeutic residences.
The facility will house and support chronically homeless veterans, providing on-site training and services to help them transition to independent living.
LEO A DALY’s renovation of the 1945 Mission Revival-style building, which appears on the National Register of Historic Places, transformed the vacant hospital into 55 residential units, 45 single-occupancy and 10 dual-occupancy.
“This project is about renewal and transformation for both the building and our nation’s veterans,” said Nicos Katsellis, architect with LEO A DALY. Building 209 is the first of three historic renovations LEO A DALY is designing on the West LA campus. Buildings 208 and 205 will also be transformed into therapeutic residences, and several more historic buildings will receive seismic upgrades and other renovations.
This article was adapted from information provided by LEO A DALY.