H.H.
Richardson Complex is a recently-coined
name for the New York State Asylum
for the Insane, a large Medina red
sandstone and brick hospital that
stands on the grounds of the present
day Buffalo Psychiatric Center in
Buffalo, New York. The official name
for the complex (at least
technically so) remains as the
Buffalo Psychiatric Center (originally
Buffalo State Hospital).
The hospital buildings were designed
in 1870 in the Kirkbride Plan by
architect Henry Hobson Richardson
with grounds by landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted. It housed
mental patients for a century and
has been vacant since the mid-1970's.
The central administration building
was used for offices until the early-1990s.
In 1973, the Asylum was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
and in 1986, it was designated a
National Historic Landmark. The
complex, the largest commission of
Richardson's career and the advent
of his characteristic Romanesque
style, has been the subject of a
long-term preservation campaign. A
successful lawsuit filed by the
Preservation Coalition of Erie
County forced the State of New York
to commit $100 million to its
rehabilitation. To date, aside from
the addition of a fence surrounding
the perimeter of the complex, little
progress towards the goal of reuse
has occurred.
