History | VA Eastern Colorado Health Care | Veterans Affairs

DENVER VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CENTER The Denver Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center (DVAMC) was constructed between 1948 and 1951. The facility consisted of a large hospital

building (Building 1) and approximately fifteen support buildings and structures. The DVAMC, which changed over time to meet evolving medical care requirements and technologies, was the

primary VA facility in Colorado for over fifty years. Two major policies shaped postwar VA hospital construction. New VA hospitals were constructed in urban areas and affiliated with medical

schools. This was a significant change from the decades long policy that emphasized the construction of hospitals in rural areas and independence from other healthcare facilities. Postwar

VA hospitals were also constructed based on standard designs developed by VA architects. The DVAMC met all these conditions. The VA built the DVAMC in the well-established Hale neighborhood,

within the city’s urban core and adjacent to Colorado Boulevard, a state highway. Construction of the hospital completed the infill of the neighborhood and allowed the facility to serve the

city’s veteran population, which had grown exponentially after the war. Moreover, the medical center was located between two existing medical complexes. The University of Colorado Hospital

and Medical School bordered the DVAMC to the west. The association with the medical school was a vitally important to the Veterans Administration’s postwar vision in which the agency worked

cooperatively with medical schools. Another hospital, the Rose Medical Center, was east of the DVAMC. The three medical institutions created a large area that was dedicated to cooperative

medical care and instruction. The relationship between the Denver hospitals continued into the 2000s when the University of Colorado and VA began transferring their operations east to new

facilities on the former site of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora Colorado where they have continued their collaborative relationship. The Rose Medical Center remains in its

original location. BUILDING 1 The VA hospital (Building 1), which was constructed in 1951, was the most prominent building on the DVAMC campus. It defined the southern half of the Denver VA

Medical Center campus. The irregular shaped building was primarily clad in red brick with white sandstone accents and varied in heights between three and eleven-stories tall. The hospital,

which featured International Style design elements, was one of the first facilities designed by the agency’s own architecture and engineering staff using standardized plans.