Oregon State Hospital Historic District | |
 The Dome Building | |
| Built | 1910-1912 |
|---|---|
| Architect | Edgar M. Lazarus, et al. |
| NRHP reference # | 08000118 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 28, 2008 [1] |
The Oregon State Hospital Historic District is a National Historic District in Salem, Oregon, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 2008, [2] and encompasses many of the buildings of the present-day Oregon State Hospital. The district is roughly bounded by D Street, Park Avenue, 24th Street and Bates Drive [2] and includes the main hospital building as well as the headquarters of the Oregon Department of Corrections, known as the Dome Building, across the street. [3]
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon is one of only three states of the contiguous United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
The hospital was cited as an example of Kirkbride Plan mental hospital design. [3] More than 60 historic buildings and structures are sited on 130-acre (0.53 km2) campus and are considered excellent examples of institutional buildings designed by Oregon architects, including Pietro Belluschi, William C. Knighton, Edgar M. Lazarus (the designer of Crown Point Vista House), and Walter D. Pugh. [3] [4]
The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809–1883) in the mid-19th century. The asylums built in the Kirkbride design, often referred to as Kirkbride Buildings, were constructed during the mid-to-late-19th century in the United States. The structural features of the hospitals as designated by Dr. Kirkbride were contingent on his theories regarding the healing of the mentally ill, in which environment and exposure to natural light and air circulation were crucial. The hospitals built according to the Kirkbride Plan would adopt various architectural styles, but had in common the "bat wing" style floor plan, housing numerous wings that sprawl outward from the center.
Pietro Belluschi was an Italian architect, a leader of the Modern Movement in architecture, and was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.
William Christmas Knighton was an American architect best known for his work in Oregon. Knighton designed the Governor Hotel in Portland, Johnson Hall at the University of Oregon, and the Oregon Supreme Court Building and Deepwood Estate in Salem. He served as Oregon's first State Architect from 1911–1915, appointed by Governor Oswald West. By 1915, Knighton had designed ninety building projects as State Architect. In 1919, Knighton was appointed by Governor Ben Olcott as the first President of the Oregon State Board of Architectural Examiners, a position he held until 1922. In 1920, Knighton was elected the sixth President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He remained on the Chapter's Board of the Trustees for several years and was Chair of the Chapter Legislative Committee into the 1930s.
