Name: Main Building
Architect: John Haviland
Build Date: Started 1848 / Finished Oct 6, 1851
Type: Administration Offices & Patient Wards
Demolished?: Yes - 1910
Current Building #: N/A
Alternate Names: N/A
Special Features: Large dome, towers at ward junctions

 

The original building built on the hospital grounds was one of the first insane asylums in the United States built following the Kirkbride Plan. Construction of the original Main Building started between July and October of 1848 and was completed in 1851 at a cost of $169,000. Designed by John Haviland, the building was originally designed to hold 300 patients, but with the addition of infirmaries the capacity increased to 400 patients. The Main Building served the hospital for only about fifty years. It was considered by many to be poorly designed and a fire hazard. So just after the turn of the 20th century the building was systematically demolished, starting with the administration section, and a short time later the wings. Later in 1950 the land that the Main Building once stood on was excavated for a new Admission Center. During the excavation workers uncovered debris from the demolition of the Main Building that had been buried for almost fifty years.
 
Because of the large amount of history on the Main Building, I have divided the history into five sections.
Click on the links below to learn about the Main Building:

Vintage Photo Gallery - 33 Photos

 

 

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