View source for Agnews Developmental Center

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Agnews Insane Asylum
| nrhp_type    = hd
| nocat        = yes
| image        = USA-Santa Clara-Agnews Developmental Center-Clocktower-5.jpg
| caption      =
| location     = 4000 Lafayette St., [[Santa Clara, California]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|37|23|38|N|121|57|10|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin     = United States San Jose#California#USA
| area         =
| built        = 1906
| architect    = Stocking, Leonard, State Architect; Sellon & Hennings, McDougall, George
| architecture = [[Mission Revival Style architecture|Mission Revival]]—[[Spanish Colonial Revival architecture|Spanish Colonial Revival]]
| added        = August 13, 1997
| refnum       = 97000829
}}
'''Agnews Developmental Center''' were two psychiatric and medical care facilities, located in [[Santa Clara, California]] and [[San Jose, California]] respectively.
==History==
In 1885, the center, originally known as "The Great Asylum for the Insane",<ref>Context Magazine, [http://www.contextmag.com/setFrameRedirect.asp?src=/archives/200202/Feature0WhentheGoing.asp ''When the Going Gets Tough...'']  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017083947/http://www.contextmag.com/setFrameRedirect.asp?src=%2Farchives%2F200202%2FFeature0WhentheGoing.asp |date=October 17, 2006 }}</ref> was established as a facility for the care of the mentally ill. The building finished construction at a cost of $750,000. The main structure, a red brick edifice, was located on land near [[Agnew's Village, California|Agnew's Village]], which later became part of [[Santa Clara, California|Santa Clara]]. The building was modeled after the [[Kirkbride Plan]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/blog/the-lost-kirkbrides-agnews-state-hospital|work=Kirkbride Buildings |title=The Lost Kirkbrides: Agnews State Hospital|date=November 14, 2008|access-date=May 10, 2017}}</ref> and designed by architect [[Theodore Lenzen]]. By the early twentieth century, Agnews boasted the largest institutional population in the South San Francisco Bay area, and was served by its own train station which stood at the west end of Palm Drive across Lafayette Street. The train station remained standing until vandalism and fire precipitated its demolition in the mid-1990s.
The [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] caused the destruction of the facility and nearby buildings. 117 patients and staff were killed and buried in mass graves on the site. Agnews then became infamous as the site of the [[Santa Clara Valley]]'s greatest loss of life resulting from the quake.  The ''Daily Palo Alto'' reported: "The position of the people in Agnews is critical; a number of insane persons having escaped from the demolished asylum, are running at random about the country."
Following this disaster, Agnews was rebuilt in the [[Mediterranean Revival architecture]] styles of [[Mission Revival Style architecture|Mission Revival]]—[[Spanish Colonial Revival architecture|Spanish Colonial Revival]], in a layout resembling a college [[campus]] of two-story buildings. It re-opened circa 1911 as ''Agnews State Mental Hospital''. The facility was a small self-contained town, including a multitude of construction trade "shops", a farm which raised pigs and vegetable crops, a steam generating power plant for heating the buildings by steam, and even a fire department.
In 1926, the center was expanded to include a second campus about {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} to the east in San Jose ({{coord|37|24|32|N|121|55|53|W}}). A hospital was later built for the campus. Individuals with [[developmental disabilities]] were first admitted to a special rehabilitation program in 1965.
Programs for the mentally ill were discontinued in 1972 following [[deinstitutionalisation]]. The west campus would close 26 years later in 1998. Following the deinstitutionalisation of the east campus, the campus would be used for the care and treatment of people with developmental disabilities until the property was sold and closed in 2011.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dds.ca.gov/Agnews/
|title=Agnews Developmental Center
|access-date=2011-01-05
|publisher=California Department of Developmental Services
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315064431/http://www.dds.ca.gov/Agnews/
|archive-date=2012-03-15
}}</ref>
==West campus closure==
[[Image:Wfm sun agnews.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial photograph of the Oracle campus at the former Agnews west campus]]
The original west campus was closed in 1998 as part of a plan to reduce and eventually close the center. When the west campus closed, the use of the land was the subject of local controversy.  In April 1997, it was announced the state would sell an {{convert|82.5|acre|ha|adj=on}} parcel of the campus to [[Sun Microsystems]] for its corporate headquarters and [[R&D]] campus.  Some objected to the arranged sale of this prime public land to a profitable corporation at the peak of a local economic and real-estate boom, while others valued the presence of a prominent high-tech employer.  Also at issue was the preservation of and public access to historic Agnews Developmental Center buildings.  Sun agreed to restore four of the historic buildings (the auditorium, the clock tower, the superintendent's villa, and the administration building) and to keep some of the facilities available for public use.  An outdoor exhibit open to the public displays information and photographs regarding the center and its history. A small museum would open next to the cemetery which is open to this day.
In addition to the Sun deal, the [[Rivermark of Santa Clara|Rivermark]] [[planned community]] was allocated {{convert|152|acre|ha}} for a variety of residential, retail, public school, and open space uses.
The Agnews site was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] (under the name "Agnews Insane Asylum") on August 13, 1997.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref>
Sun was acquired by [[Oracle Corporation]] in 2010; the campus continues to be used as an Oracle R&D facility and conference center.
Oracle would put 40% of the campus up for sale in 2022.
==East campus closure==
In March 2009, the last patient moved out of the east campus and the residential facility was closed. The east campus provided outpatient clinic services through April 2011.
In July 2011, the Regional Project of the Bay Area and the Community State Staff Administration moved to [[Campbell, California|Campbell]] and continued providing support to patients in the local area.
With the final sale of the land pending, the east campus was vacated and the land was turned over to the [[California Department of General Services|Department of General Services]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dds.ca.gov/Agnews/Index.cfm |title=Agnews Developmental Center |access-date=3 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629122541/http://www.dds.ca.gov/Agnews/Index.cfm |archive-date=29 June 2016 }}</ref>
In July 2014, the City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Unified School District purchased the property from the State of California for $80 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/53190|title=City of San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services}}</ref> with the intent to build a K-5 school, a middle school, a high school, and a city park. Demolition of the site started in late 2018 with construction starting soon after. The first two schools, Abram Agnew Elementary School and Dolores Huerta Middle School opened in August 2021. The third school, [[Kathleen MacDonald High School]], opened the following year. The city park is yet to be built as the former hospital still stands with demolition yet to start; however, the three churches that sat on the same site have been demolished. The hospital stands in a neglected and ruined state. Graffiti can be seen on every wall with piles of destroyed concrete and steel bars littered all around the interior.
==In popular media==
The 1984 film ''[[Birdy (film)|Birdy]]'' by [[film director|director]] [[Alan Parker]] used the center for the facility where the title character played by [[Matthew Modine]] is incarcerated.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Birdy.php|title=Birdy filming locations|access-date=November 14, 2019}}</ref>
The 1989 horror film ''[[The Dead Pit]]'' by director Brett Leonard was shot at the east campus.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baine |first1=Wallace |title=Local couple hit it big making "The Lawnmower Man' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/67334120/ |work=Santa Cruz Sentinel |date=March 13, 1992 |page=35 |language=en}}</ref>
The punk rock band [[Green Day]] recorded the music video for its 1994 song "[[Basket Case (song)|Basket Case]]" at Agnews.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Winwood |first1=Ian |title=Smash!: Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion |date=2018 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=9780306902734 |pages=158–159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGxBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT158 |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Agnews Developmental Center}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100727083120/http://www.dds.cahwnet.gov/Agnews/Index.cfm California Department of Developmental Services]
* [http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.24.97/agnews-bldg-9717.html Article covering land re-use controversy]
* [https://www.nps.gov/places/agnews-insane-asylum.htm ''Agnews Insane Asylum''], U.S. National Park Service
* [http://www.cdyn.com/videos/files/10AH00000_29_43.mp4 ''New Campus, New Home''],{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} a video on the construction of the Sun Microsystems campus and preservation of the Agnews buildings
* {{Find a Grave cemetery|1984683|Agnews Historical Cemetery}}
* {{cite web |title=Historical American Buildings Survey: Agnews State Hospital |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca2800/ca2821/data/ca2821data.pdf |website=Library of Congress |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=July 23, 2020}}
* {{cite web |title=State of California, Agnews State Mental Hospital |url=http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/16864/ |website=Pacific Coast Architecture Database |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=July 23, 2020}}
* {{cite web |title=Agnews Asylum collection, 1859-1978. |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=California%20State%20Library::California%20History%20Room;idT=001443267 |website=Online Archive of California |publisher=California Digital Library}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Kirkbride Plan}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Psychiatric hospitals in California]]
[[Category:History of Santa Clara County, California]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Santa Clara, California]]
[[Category:Sun Microsystems]]
[[Category:Hospitals established in 1885]]
[[Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1911]]
[[Category:Kirkbride Plan hospitals]]
[[Category:Mission Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Spanish Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:Hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Hospitals in Santa Clara County, California]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures burned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake]]
[[Category:1885 establishments in California]]