Rockhaven Sanitarium Historic District

Location :

The Rockhaven Sanitarium Historic District is located in the Crescenta Valley at 2713 Honolulu Avenue in what is now the City of Glendale, California. It was opened in 1923 by psychiatric nurse Agnes Richards as a private mental health institution for women with mild mental and nervous disorders as the brochure read. At Rockhaven women could be treated with dignity and grace in a beautiful and serene environment.InstitutionRockhaven was inspired by principles of the Cottage Plan of Asylum architecture for mental institutions, first developed in the late nineteenth century. The Cottage Plan placed numerous individual buildings within landscaped gardens in order to create a serene, homelike environment for residents. Rockhaven is one of the best examples of an early twentieth century woman-owned, women-serving private sanitarium in California, and was one of the first of its type in the nation. It reflects the vision of founder Agnes Richards, R.N., and represents a small, yet significant movement that sought to improve the conditions of mentally ill women in the early twentieth century.Agnes Traviss Richards, a registered nurse, was inspired to found her own institution when she became discouraged by the way women with mental illness were treated by large, state-run facilities. Having worked in state-run insane asylums in Nebraska, Iowa and Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, California, she witnessed the atrocities firsthand. Richards’ vision was to create a peaceful, homelike setting where women could be cared for surrounded by gardens and lush landscaping.Building and ArchitectureRockhaven Sanitarium Historic District occupies a 3.4-acre site on beautiful oak-treed grounds with several vintage hospital wards and guest cottages. There are a total of fifteen buildings on the property which were erected between 1920 and 1972. Agnes Richards had some buildings relocated to the Rockhaven Sanitarium and others lifted and turned on their foundation to invite sunlight into the rooms. Richards acquired the five Craftsman style buildings over time and she hired Prescott and Brothers to design the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style structures which were popular in Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. Patios and courtyards acted as extensions of the residents’ indoor living quarters inviting privacy and serenity.

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