Agnews State Hospital, Physician's Residence, Mesa Lane, Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, CA

Significance: Building 116 is significant during the period from 1949 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, Buildings 115, 116, and 117 (the three Physicians Residences built from the same plan) represent the portion of the new hospital dedicated to single-family staff residences. Building 116 served as on-site housing for doctors and their families and later for senior staff.
Survey number: HABS CA-2710-AV
Building/structure dates: 1920-1949 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1998 Demolished