Agnews State Hospital, Men's Receiving Building, East Side of North Circle Drive, Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, CA

Significance: Building 3 is significant as an integral component of the 1908 reconstruction of Agnews State Hospital in a pavilion plan. The new design for the hospital represented not only a reconfiguration of buildings into smaller structures in a park-like setting, but an important change in the perspectives on and treatment of patients. Agnews was the first mental facility in California to switch from the confinement and permanent housing of patients to humane treatment with the hope of release. Building 3, the Men's Receiving Building, represents the residential portion of the plan. In keeping with the pavilion model, it was constructed as a specialized housing unit surrounded by grass and trees, and each room had ample windows to allow in light and air. In place of restraints, Building 3 had hyrdrotherapy rooms. The Men's Receiving Building housed four wards for men (two on each floor) and each ward had their own set of bedrooms, bathrooms, a lavatory, a dormitory, a sitting room in a projecting bay, a screened porch, and rooms for shoes, clothes, and reception. Rooms shared by the wards of each floor, such as dining rooms, serving rooms, and physicians rooms, were located in the center of the building. In addition, Building 3 and the other structures from the 1908 plan are important as early attempts to use reinforced concrete as an earthquake and fire-resistant material.
Survey number: HABS CA-2710-C
Building/structure dates: 1908 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: before 1984 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1998 Demolished