Columbia Hospital for Women - View this location on map For a century and a half, the Columbia Hospital for Women was the city s birthplace of choice for all races. Chartered by Congress in 1866, the hospital was the primary maternity facility in the city, and the birthplace of about 275,000 individuals the vast majority of all persons born in the District of Columbia during the twentieth century. Until it closed in2002, Columbia was also a leading national and international innovator in women s and infants health. In 1919, it established a prenatal care program, and in 1925, it was the first hospital to use babies footprints for identification. It was one of the first maternity hospitals to establish nurseries for premature infants, and the first to provide classes for expectant fathers. It was also a leader in the care of children, with its Clinic for Children giving rise to Children s Hospital. Columbia Hospital was first located at Thomas Circle, but in 1876 it moved to the present site, where it used the former Maynard Mansion as a nurses home. The present five-story structure, built in 1916, overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue from a gentle rise in the center of the block. The Italianate design by architect Nathan C. Wyeth is extraordinary for its sculptural complexity. The tall central block (originally crowned by a rooftop loggia), is flanked by gable-roofed transverse wings with open towers, which rise above two Y-shaped wings that project forward, ending in open sun porches. Facades are golden tapestry brick with limestone trim and terra cotta roofs. The design highlights the importance of light and air in medical thinking of the day. 2401 L Street, NW, Washington , DC Historical

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