About the Architecture at Fairfield State


Once the proposed hospital was approved the next most important decision to be made is the layout and style of the campus buidings. As of 1929, Walter P. Crabtree was assigned to the task of designing the state hospital with the help of Dr. Roy L. Leak, acting superintendent. The building style was decided to be Colonial Revival that was so typical in New England. The buildings were designed to be dissimilar enough to avoid monotony yet similar enough to harmonize with each other. Crabtree designed three types of buildings; wards, dormitories, and the reception hospital. Crabtree and Leak both agreed that buildings used for the care of patients needed to erected before ward buildings were constructed.

The styling of the buildings all featured cupolas which are not only ornamental but also necessary as an outside vent for ventilation. The buildings were to be built of brick. Crabtree convinced the Board of Trustees to procure "Harvard Gonic Water Sruck" bricks, the same used on the Harvard campus for construction of the campus. This type of brick were handmade using a process developed hundreds of years earlier. The company couldn't keep up with the production of this particular brick that the "Kelsey Ferguson Brick" produced more locally in East Windor Hills, Connecticut was used.

The campus is united by being arranged in an oval shape. Female patients were intended to be on the south side while male patients were to be on the north side. the ward buildings were also designed to keep more acute cases at one end and to have continued care patients at the other end. The drive into the hospital was the head of the oval and featured the reception hospital and was designed in a double Y with the stems joined in the center. This construction creates a warm embrace of an entry. Flanking the reception hospital was a nurse's dormitory and an administration building. Behind this entry of buildings lay the ward buildings surrounding a central cafeteria. The wards and other buildings were designed to have exposures on at least two sides and in many cases, three. The hospital was designed no to have any dark corners or cubbyholes. In the center of the oval layout are spaces for outdoor recreations.

To learn more about the campus buildings please click here.