Building #35 / Breitenbush Hall - Oregon State Hospital Historic District - Salem, Oregon
Posted by: 
ddtfamily
N 44° 56.438 W 123° 00.136
10T E 499821 N 4976355
Historic contributing brick building dating to 1948
Waymark Code: WMGQKW
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2013
Views: 2
Building #35, also known as Breitenbush Hall, was built in 1948 by noted Oregon architect Pietro Belluschi, one of the principal designers at the Albert E. Doyle firm. His other Salem works include the current
Marion County Courthouse and
Smullin Hall at Willamette University.
The building contains over 80,00 square feet of space with three stories plus a basement. It was designed as a "treatment hospital" and ultimately housed patient wards, a pharmacy, medical laboratory, a chapel and the hospital's communications center. It is located on the Oregon State Hospital's north campus, but like several other north campus buildings, it is currently vacant.
The future of the building is uncertain as the north campus is effectively a liability to the state; the buildings are mostly vacant and even with extensive renovation for seismic retrofit, asbestos and lead paint removal, and re-work of pluming and electrical systems, finding a suitable use for the buildings would be difficult due to their specialized design for specific hospital purposes. Instead, a recent consultant study suggests that the campus is best suited for redevelopment, primarily as a residential space.
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