Peoria State Hospital

Peoria State Hospital is a campus of 47 buildings on a wooded plateau at the edge of the Illinois River bluff in Bartonville. Construction began in 1899 with support buildings, and the hospital opened in 1902. It was laid out as a small, partly self-supporting city. Twenty-seven residential cottages form an undulating circle around central administration, shopping and activity buildings, with hospitals, a power plant, laundry, shops and warehouses grouped nearby. Most buildings are brick or stone, and many show Georgian Revival design. The hospital is regarded as a leading example of the cottage plan, which favored small, simple dormitories over the single large fortress-like structure of the earlier Kirkbride model. It is also associated with Dr. George Zeller, credited with removing bars and mechanical restraints from patient rooms. Few buildings have been significantly altered, though a few were remodeled or replaced in the 1960s. The hospital closed in 1973, and the empty buildings have since suffered broken windows, stripped fixtures and interior decay.