{"nrhp_refnum":"86000851","name":"Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum","other_names":["Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital Administration Building an"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1960 W. Broad St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":39.95275511800003,"lon":-83.04546716099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-04-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large Victorian Gothic hospital building at 1960 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio, built from 1870 to 1877 as the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum. It has a four-and-a-half story administrative center flanked by three-story wards.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the best surviving examples of late Victorian Gothic institutional architecture in central Ohio. It is also one of very few extant Ohio examples of the Kirkbride asylum plan, and it reflects changing approaches to psychiatric institution design. At the time it was the largest single public capital investment by the State of Ohio, apart from the Statehouse.","narrative":"Built between 1870 and 1877 on West Broad Street in Columbus, this brick and stone hospital began as the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum. Its four-and-a-half story administrative center, with two square towers, is flanked by three-story ward wings. Pointed and round-arched windows, corbelled brickwork, a bracketed metal cornice and slate roofs mark it as late Victorian Gothic. The plan follows the Kirkbride model, a central structure with offset wings, and few examples survive in Ohio. An earlier asylum on East Broad Street burned in 1868, and Levi T. Scofield was retained to design the replacement. The cornerstone was laid in 1870 with Governor Rutherford B. Hayes presiding, and the first patient arrived in 1877. With more than 800 rooms, it was the state's largest public investment of its time apart from the Statehouse. Later additions include a 1891 club room and a 1961 dining hall. At the time of listing, the building was in good condition but faced possible demolition as its use declined.","period_of_significance":"1870-1874","architect_builder":"Thomas Tinsley","architectural_style":"Late Victorian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in continuous use since 1877, but no longer suitable as a treatment facility. Adaptive reuse was being discussed, and demolition was a threat. Condition is listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:15.206022-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/86000851.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000851/851d5e2bf4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000851/851d5e2bf4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Columbus_State_Hospital_c._1880.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Columbus_State_Hospital_c._1880.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988551","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_State_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30638998"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/central-ohio-lunatic-asylum-86000851/"}