architecture

Manteno State Hospital's Architecture by Megan Bland

INTRODUCTION
Many of the buildings at the former Manteno State Hospital have been demolished, but some still stand. Some have been renovated and are used to this day by various companies while others await new owners, funding or their ultimate demise.

The Illinois Veteran's Home at Manteno still occupies the northern third of the campus and maintains many of the buildings very nicely for their residents, patients and staff. They have maintained or remodeled their buildings to a state of almost original condition. To see them now, you would never guess that they were built in the 1920's and 30's. They have also done an excellent job of keeping up the lawns and landscapes as well as attending to the old VA/Manteno State Hospital Cemetery which now is no longer open to interment.

Many buildings however, remain strong, yet fading against the elements. Many of these buildings were probably abandoned long ago by the state itself due to lack of funding or staff. Though attempts seem to have been made to keep these buildings boarded up and unexposed, it appears to be a constant battle against the curious, the vandals, the elements and time.

Over the years many buildings have crumbled, succumbed to the elements and were eventually demolished either by the state or others. These were some of the most beautiful, immense and extraordinary of the buildings at Manteno State Hospital. The work and funding required to renovate one of these buildings would have been quite considerable if not an impossibility.

There is sort of a sad joke between people who are passionate about these buildings. Whenever one is asked as to which buildings are best to photograph and most interesting, especially in architectural feature, we must sadly reply, "The one's that were carted off to the dump." For it is true that most of the architecturally unique buildings have long gone. What remains is the scattered existence of redundant cottages.

The Bowen building, which was once the main hospital and housed the morgue was demolished sometime before the year 2002 and in the spring of 2002, the Singer building, which once housed the pharmacy, diagnostic and other medical services was demolished. Most recently, in December of 2002, the old power house was leveled and 4 of the two story cottages (Wines, Dewey, Pinel and White) were demolished in the summer of 2003.

On the VA side, Kilbourne, Billings and Meyer made way for new housing and empty lots. The Trudeau building, which had once been a tuberculosis sanitarium, was demolished, and must have disappeared all before the autumn of 2002.

The list goes on. There were many minor buildings nearest the front (east) entrance that disappeared somewhere along the way. A group of bushes is the only telltale sign of the Managing Officer's Residence which would have been the first house you saw to the south upon turning onto the main road towards the Administration Building. The doctors' and employees' residences were razed to make way for a new and improved modern housing development.

(Above) Detail over front door of Administration Building (Left) Administration Building, now HomeStar Bank Administrative Center

 

The Administration Building was luckily saved by the HomeStar Bank. It still stands tall and has been converted into their administrative offices. It was the building most often associated with the Manteno State Hospital through its use on hospital letterheads and in the manufacturing of picture postcards.

The bank that occupies this building has kept it in almost original condition including the magnificent lobby and grand staircases. The cupola topped center, still towers over the campus, is illuminated at night and can be seen from at least a mile away.

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
It is not known, at this time, exactly how Manteno State Hospital was planned or the number of patients it was designed to accommodate. According to one report by Ralph T. Hinton, Manteno State Hospital's first Superintendent, the hospital was to eventually accommodate 10,000 patients. Many reports and other sources state that the initial purpose of this hospital was to provide various forms of relief for several other hospitals in Illinois. Kankakee, Jacksonville and Elgin, had been experiencing ceaseless problems with overpopulation since they were built. Repeated expansion of these hospitals only remedied overcrowding situations temporarily. Manteno State Hospital may have been seen as a permanent solution due to its easily expandable segregate plan.

"Old Main", Kirkbride Building at Jacksonville, Illinois
(Demolished in the 1970s)

During the late 19th and 20th centuries, two types of plans for the construction of hospitals were common. The Manteno State Hospital was laid out in what is known as the "cottage plan" or "segregate plan". The opposition of the "cottage plan" was the "congregate plan". Other hospitals of this time were constructed as one large central building. These buildings had massive wings composed of various sections. Each section was progressively set back from the former in echelon fashion. The ideal layout for this type of building was the remarkable idea of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride. Dr. Kirkbride's idea became synonymous with the "congregate plan" and there were many asylums and hospitals built on this plan throughout the world, including the Jacksonville State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Manteno State Hospital - "Cottage Plan"

THE COTTAGE PLAN
The cottage plan was the idea of an institution consisting of many smaller home-like buildings in which patients were segregated and cared for in a familiar setting. The idea stemmed from the particular care for the insane in Gheel, Belgium, where the *"harmless insane are cared for by the people of the village and the neighboring country who provide them with board, and treat them as members of the family". Gheel's method of caring for their insane, lasted for centuries. Contrary to this idea, the rather large cottage buildings at Manteno contained vast dormitories which were neither cozy or comfortable and hardly afforded any privacy to patient or staff.

Todd Cottage

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
Construction at the Manteno State Hospital began in November of 1929. Most of the buildings appear to be influenced by the Georgian Revival style. Physical attributes that suggest this style as being the most predominate are circular windows; "fanlights"; arched doorways and windows; low pitched, hipped roofs; mullioned, rectangular windows; triangular gables; and the occasional presence of columns and cupolas.

Different buildings contain different elements of this style. Above the exteriors of most windows you will find keystones or other decorative ornamentation set into brick. All cottage buildings are also symmetrical and balanced in design and composed of combinations of red brick, concrete, steel beams and wooden roofs.

THE COTTAGES: ONE-STORY
There were once, 22 one-story "H" shape cottages and 2 cottages that resemble half an "H", making for a total of 24. The "H" shape cottage is the most predominate type at Manteno, although they were not of the original architectural design.

Layout of one-story "H" shape cottage.

One of the two ward doors of a one-story cottage.

 

The cottages themselves are huge structures taking up the space of almost the entire lot they occupy. Each building has 2 main entrances at both the east and west wards, (the left and right long sides of the "H"). These doors are uncommonly wider than average and frequently have small round portal windows at either side. At the center of each building (the middle of the cross bar of the "H") appears to be a kitchen, pantry or dishwashing area and a long dining hall or common area. (Many of the buildings still standing have their original "dining hall" sign intact.) This dining area is connected on either side by 2 hallways that connect to the long and larger dormitory wards, for a total of 4 hallways radiating from dining hall. The existence of these halls makes for another interesting feature. The halls create atriums or courtyards that could have, at one time been easily used to contain patients and allow them the pleasure of being outside. With the numerous windows of each building, (approximately 80 windows including dormers on each ward), visibility is rarely hindered on the inside or out.

Bathrooms, sinks and bathing areas are located on both sides of the common area at the center of each ward. It is assumed that heating for each building was provided by radiators in which hot water was supplied to by the power plant. Plumbing and other utilities were contained and connected throughout the grounds by an intricate series of tunnels and basements only accessible through doors on the exterior of these cottages.

Ward at Manteno State Hospital.

THE COTTAGES: TWO-STORY

The 8 two-story cottages at Manteno State Hospital were part of the original architectural plan and were the first cottages built for patients in 1928. At this time it is unclear as to when or why the architecture of the additional cottages was changed to the one-story "H" plan after 1929.

The two-story cottages were used as alcoholic and voluntary wards in the 50s and 60s, but were closed by the 1970s. There are many contributing factors as to why these buildings were eveuntually closed. It may have been too easy for suicidal patients to leap from the top of the inner staircases, access may have been too difficult for the elderly or infirm or that interior access to their basements (eventually leading to the tunnel system) proved to be too dangerous.

All of the two-story cottages were of an "I" or back to back "E" shape with the ward wings being the largest parts of the buildings. At the front of each cottage and to the center was the main entrance which led directly to the staircase. As you entered, the staircase lead to the basement at the right and to the main first floor at your left. Both the first and second floors were very similar, if not identical with long central halls which lead to each ward. The hallway had rooms to either side containing bath and shower rooms, toilets, small offices and closets. The wards at the ends of the buildings were large, window lined rooms with many having sun rooms at either or both ends. These sun rooms were like bay windows and were accessible through a set of french doors that had windows on either side so that light could always infiltrate the room. At the center of each ward was a door on the exterior wall that provided access to a steel constructed fire escape. The inner staircases eventually lead to the attic or third floor which was an open large room with windows and a wooden ceiling (the roof) that followed the contour of the pitch and dormers. There is some evidence that these attics may have had fireplaces in them at one time. It is likely that the attics were used for storage and probably never housed patients. All eight of the two-story cottages had the same layout and were located (4 to the south and 4 to the north of the main boulevard) closest to the kitchen, bakery and general store.

The roofs are the only parts of most buildings, besides door and window frames, which were entirely made of wood. All load bearing structures at Manteno State Hospital were constructed of steel and reinforced concrete used for each floor. Most walls are made of concrete, cinder block or brick and lined on the interiors with ceramic tile. Ceilings are predominately constructed of sheet rock, dry wall and later renovations used acoustic tile. Some of the interior and exterior decorative elements were fabricated from natural stone. At the time it was built, most of these construction materials were considered to be the most fireproof.

The basements of the two-story cottages had a variety of different uses throughout the years, such as sewing rooms, kitchens, activity centers, storage, staff break areas and tunnel access. The tunnel system that ran throughout the campus could possibly have been used for limited staff access between the two story cottages at one time. However, the tunnels do not have direct access to many of the other buildings and are not large or accessible enough to have been used on a frequent basis or to transport patients. Other hospitals of the time did use their tunnel systems for transportation of patients and for staff access. Manteno State Hospital's tunnel system, however, appears to have been created primarily for the containment of utilities such as hot water pipes, and their maintenance. One of the benefits of having the tunnels located beneath sidewalks was that it kept them fairly free of snow and ice in the cold winter months.

It appears that the wards in all buildings were designed and spaced in such a way as to have a bed at every window with room for additional beds if so needed. We can only image what these dormitory rooms might have looked like during the hospital's peak population of over 8,000 patients.

THE ARCHITECTS
The first architect associated with the initial plans for the Manteno State Hospital was, William J. Lindstrom. Lindstrom was also the architect for Illinois State University's Felmley Hall, McCormick Hall, and the supervising engineer for the Practical Arts (Student Services) Building at Eastern Illinois University.

Brandon I, erected in 1930. Chief Architect C. Herrick Hammond, FAIA,
(Fellow of the American Institute of Architects).

In 1930 additional buildings were erected under Chief Architect Charles Herrick Hammond with Associate Architects Alfred H. Granger and John C. Bollenbacher. Buildings Brandon I and the Main Kitchen bare their names on bronze plaques stating their dedications.

NOTE: Building schematics on this page are provided to give the reader an idea of the layout of these buildings. They are not from actual architectural drawings and are not precise depictions.

* GHEEL: Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ ALSO SEE: Dymphna, patron saint of mental disturbances.