Buffalo State Asylum for the InsaneIt is so wonderful to see the architectural wonders of the Buffalo landscape being restored. Today it was announced that the construction on the Richardson Olmstead buildings (original Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane) will begin this summer at the cost of almost 8 million. Just the first step in an enormous 40 million dollars planed for the site.

HISTORY

Henry Hobson Richardson Complex, or the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane as it was called when construction started in 1870, took 20 years to build. It was created at the request of two prominent business men from Buffalo who felt the area did not have decent facilities for the insane.

The Architect on the project was Henry Hobson Richardson, who created some famous buildings throughout the USA including the amazing Trinity Church in Boston and the New York State Capitol Building. The complex, the largest commission of Richardson's career, and is a example of his style, now known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Richardson is generally regarded by architectural historians as the first of the three greatest American architects. The other two are Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, whom also build in Buffalo.

Richardson loved to work with Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central park and Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls NY

Buffalo's, South Park was designed by Olmstead in 1894Working with Olmsted, they designed the grounds of the Buffalo State Asylum and many other Buffalo Parks, including Delaware and Cazenovia Park.

Central towerThe central tower building and adjacent buildings were constructed using Medina Sandstone quarried in nearby Orleans County. The wings were constructed with brick.

Sections of the Richardson Complex were demolished and the buildings gradually deteriorated. In 1969 the three brick buildings on the east wing were demolished to make room for an adolescent treatment facility. The entire complex of buildings was abandoned and, left uncared for by the State of NY, allowed to deteriorate.

The grounds north the building have been occupied by Buffalo State College since the 1960s. The complex is internationally regarded as one of architecture’s great treasures. In 1973 it was added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and in 1986 it was registered as a National Historic Landmark – one of only seven such sites in Western New York, including the Darwin D. Martin House  - and is listed on the National Trust’s list of twelve nationwide "sites to save" and the Preservation League’s statewide list of seven "sites to save."

Treatment for people with mental illness continued in the Complex until the late 1990’s.

LINKS

• Buffalo News Article
• Wikipedia
• NYS Historic Landmarks
• More on the Architect