[2] Designed by Wilkes Alfred Dowdy, Architect for the City of Houston, the building for Jefferson Davis Hospital was constructed as a 4-story red brick Classical-revival style structure with handsomely detailed façade that included stone veneers and rows of double-hung windows.

[6] The cast stone detailing, portico, and brick corner quoins, are elements of the Classical Revival style that was popular in the early 20th century.

[6] The front façade features several square rock stone walls that are believed to have been either gravestones salvaged from the original cemetery or flower beds, although neither use has been confirmed.

[6] The architect leveraged high ceilings and rows of numerous large windows to harness sunlight and increase ventilation, thus avoiding the cost of more expensive decorative adornments.

[6] In contrast to the lavish exterior, the interior features of the building were simple and unadorned, which appropriately reflected its establishment as a charity hospital for the indigent.

[10][5] Over the next few decades, thousands of people were buried on the site and it became the final resting place for over 6,000 Confederate soldiers, former slaves, and city officials.

[6] By the early 1900s, the cemetery was in a gross state of deterioration due to a lack of maintenance, causing the city to reconsider use of the location for public health services.

[6] When construction began in 1924, the basement of the building was placed above ground in the effort to dispel the public controversy and to leave the graves undisturbed.

[6] The hospital was named for Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy, on account of the Confederate soldiers who had been buried in the cemetery and as a means to console the families of the deceased.

[6][11] Construction was completed in 1924 and the hospital opened its doors to patients in 1925 under the joint operation of the City of Houston and Harris County.

[6][10] By the late 1930s, the rapid metropolitan growth of the Houston area rendered the building inadequate to support the healthcare needs of indigent population.

[15] Reports of paranormal activity in the probation building have included: noises in the attic, a woman spotted in the upper stories that is believed to have been used as a dormitory for the nurses who worked at Jefferson Davis Hospital, and figures entering the ladies' restroom never to be seen again, and police dogs which refused to enter the building when a fire alarm was triggered.

Due to its reputation for paranormal activity, the building had garnered tradition among the local population as a landmark that could be broken into on Halloween night for no-cost thrills.

[16] In 1995, the site of the former Jefferson Davis Hospital was listed as a State Archaeological Landmark because of the lot's prior use as a major municipal cemetery.

[6] The concrete ceilings were left exposed and are crisscrossed with a modern intricate weaving of utility conduits, which avoided the need to modify the interior walls.

[6] The roof where the children's garden and playground once sat was replicated with asphalt of a similar color to the original tile that had fallen into severe disrepair.

In 2013, the remaining unrestored portion of the historic Jefferson Davis Hospital Building was destroyed in a two-alarm fire that resulted in one casualty by a Houston firefighter struck by a falling piece of burning tile.

[23] The former Jefferson Davis Hospital building was featured in the Hollywood production of RoboCop 2 as the location where the fictitious drug "nuke" was manufactured.