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The
early 20th century was a time of
great change for the Hospital.
Between the years 1893 and 1912 the
hospital was completely rebuilt
following the newly developed cottage plan
design. The cottage plan grew in
popularity at the turn of the 20th
century. The basic idea of the plan
was to have multiple smaller
buildings which would house only one
type of patient each, rather then
having all patients in one large
building. The buildings would be
connected together by long,
partially submerged
tunnels. The
tunnels allowed for patient and
employee movement between buildings
during the winter months, they also
contained utilities like steam
and electric for the buildings.
During the warmer months patients
would walk on walkways which were
built on top of the tunnels.
The new
buildings were built using the
following "cardinal rules". "The
buildings will not exceed two
stories in height. Two stairways
will lead from the second stories,
for easy escape in case of fire. The
buildings are to be fire-proof; and
will be so constructed that they can
be warmed at all times to a
temperature of 70 degrees. They will
be constructed to permit the
conditions of domestic life. There
will be diversity, and no operative
department will be in the basements.
Ample cubic space will be provided
for ventilation and without
materially increasing the cost of
maintenance or sacrificing the
essential appliances for proper
treatment and custody of the
classes."
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The new hospital was
designed by Pennsylvania
architects
Addison Hutton and John
Dempwolf. Henry Orth was the
superintendent during the
time of the rebuilding. He
worked closely with the
architects to make sure the
new buildings were
constructed
properly and with patient
interests in mind. He
determined that there should
be one-half acre of ground
for each patient, as a
result 210 acres had to be
purchased in addition to the
292 acres the hospital
already owned in 1893. The
new hospital was designed to
support 1,000 patients. The
buildings on the male and
female sides of the campus
mirrored each other and the
campus was meant to
represent an Italianate
window. Even the floor plan
of the Sun Parlor and the
main door of the
Administration Building
echoed the Italianate window
design. To the north side of
the campus were the male
buildings, four in total,
including the male nurse
home. On the south side were
the female buildings, also totaling
four including the female nurse
home. The
North and South Branch
buildings that were
built during the time of the
Main Building would remain
in use amongst the new
structures well into the
twentieth century. At the
center of the campus were three
communal buildings where both female
and male patients were allowed to
congregate together. These buildings
were the
chapel,
kitchen, and
solarium. The
Infirmary
Building at the rear of the campus
housed both male and female
patients, but they were separated in
different sides of the building with
a dinning room in the center. At the
very front of the campus sat the new
Administration Building. There were
also numerous support buildings, a
morgue was built in the valley to
the south of the main campus near
the Water Works. A
farm located to
the rear of the main campus supplied
the hospital with all the food it
needed and a
power plant provided
heat and electricity. When all the
new buildings were completed in 1912
the hospital resembled a small city.
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An aerial image of the new
hospital from 1930 |
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The main entrance to the
Administration Building |
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