Agnews State Hospital, Physician's Cottage No. 5, South Side of Palm Drive, Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, CA

Significance: Building 103 is significant during the period from 1930 to 1952 as a component of the reconstruction of Agnews State Hospital in a pavilion plan. The 1907 design for the hospital symbolized not only a reconfiguration of buildings into smaller structures in a park-like setting, but an important change in the perspectives on and the 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. Although constructed later, Building 103, the Physician's Cottage, represents the portion of the new hospital dedicated to single-family staff residences. The three residences based on the plans for a "Physician's Cottage #5" (Buildings 103, 104, and 105) served as on-site housing for doctors and their families and later for senior staff.
Survey number: HABS CA-2710-AF