Center Building of East Louisiana State Hospital - Jackson, LA
N 30° 50.037 W 091° 12.781
15R E 670904 N 3412565
Beautiful Greek Revival building located in Jackson was built in the mid 1800's.
Waymark Code: WMCKKJ
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 09/17/2011
Views: 3
Tough location to find. Best advise is to park at the Old Jackson Cemetery, and walk up the old main entrance road right up to this building located at the top of a small bluff. The building appeared to be in good condition. Internet research has turned up the building may not be in good condition. May be in the process of a possible restoration. Very imposing but beautiful surroundings. The entire Jackson area is rich in history and a peaceful area to visit. From the State of Louisiana National Register application page, located , a brief description of this building states: The Center Building of East Louisiana State Hospital is an outstanding example of Greek
Revival architecture in Louisiana. This is primarily because it has the only three-story Greek Revival
portico in the state. Beyond this, the hospital exemplifies a quintessential tendency of the American
Greek Revival movement, i.e. its addiction to the Greek temple form. This form was so admired that
it was used for buildings of all types, including schools, churches, homes, etc. This national love of
the Greek temple was most clearly seen in the design of institutional buildings. This was because
institutional buildings often had size requirements which made them difficult to adapt to the temple
form. As a result, great effort was often expended to fit three or more stories into a temple structure
while retaining the temple-like appearance.
The Center Building of East Louisiana State Hospital is an excellent example of this,
because it is a well-proportioned temple form, with four and one half stories "shoe-horned" into it. It
shows the temple form stretched to its limits, and it shows the almost universal application of the
temple form even to building types to which it was not entirely suited.
The Center Building of East Louisiana State Hospital is also of social/ humanitarian
significance as the site of the state's first major permanent facility for the care of the mentally ill. This
building was the beginning of the greatly expanded, present-day East Louisiana State Hospital.
Street address: State Highway 10, 2 miles east of Jackson Jackson, LA USA 70748
County / Borough / Parish: East Feliciana
Year listed: 1980
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1850-1874, 1825-1849
Historic function: Health Care - Hospital
Current function: Health Care - Hospital
Privately owned?: no
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions: Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.
Recent Visits/Logs:
There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|