Ward Buildings

Ward buildings were the primary residences of those committed or incarcerated at Mendocino State Hospital. As the patient population grew, more buildings were erected to house the population, reaching the hospital’s peak population of over 2,800 in the 1950s. Changing care standards in the 1960s resulted in more space provided to patients and a commensurate reduction in the patient population.

MSH wards were generally segregated by gender: Male wards were assigned numerical designations (e.g. 1, 2, 3…) and female wards were assigned alphabetical designations (e.g. A, B, C…). The majority of ward buildings built for MSH still exist today on the campus of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB), though most no longer serve residential purposes and have been converted to educational facilities.

Many of the images of early buildings on this page come from a State of California Department of Finance assessment (the Historical Record) of the buildings on campus. While the assessment document is undated, it was likely performed in 1930 based on the state of the buildings contained within, and it is accompanied by an aerial photo of campus that was likely from approximately 1937.

Please note that some of these pictures are fairly large and may take a while to load! For entries with documentation in the Historical Record, I have color-corrected and extracted the images from their datasheets and presented both.

Notes

• Patient capacity is listed as of the building’s construction date.
• Buildings are ordered by their ward designation.
• MSH renamed wards to “units” after World War II, likely as part of an effort to present less institutional names for the public and to also reflect the fact that some former wards were no longer used for residential purposes. Wards were sometimes called “buildings” or “cottages” as well, so Ward/Unit/Building/Cottage “G” all refer to the same ward. For consistency, this site will generally use “ward” to refer to the buildings.
• Inflation calculations are performed with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator. Amounts pre-1913 are calculated according to 1913 prices.

Ward Buildings (No Longer Extant)

The following buildings are no longer extant on campus, having been torn down.

Wards 1, 2, 3 (5, 6)

• Date completed: 1893
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’01.8″N 123°09’41.8″W
• See the Main Building entry for more information
• Date demolished: May 9, 1952¹

The original men’s wards were located in the northern part of the main building. For a period of time, space in the building that housed the Assembly Building was also allocated to Wards 5 and 6. For more information, see the main entry for the main building here. Note that unlike the equivalent female wards of A, B, and C, the men’s ward building featured a flat roof.

Ward 7 (original)

• Date completed: 1906
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’05.9″N 123°09’36.0″W
• Patient capacity: 118
• Original cost: $4,998.49 (adjusted for 2025: $162,028.09)
• Date demolished: before 1929

This ward seems to originally not have been intended as a permanent structure, as the biennial report described the planning of the structure as:

We are now putting up, and have near completion, what we call wooden tents , which will accommodate about 60 patients, for the chronic insane and untidy patients , believing that this class of patients will do much better in the mild climate of California by the open-air treatment.²

Those “wooden tents” were razed by 1922 and the more substantial structures seen in the images above erected.

Ward 7 which formerly consisted of temporary shacks of wood and was used for housing 105 patients has been reconstructed on the cottage plan as far as the appropriation would permit and now houses 153 patients.³

This building was razed by 1929 and replaced with the permanent Ward 7 (see below). However, its basic design of smaller annexes surrounding a covered courtyard corridor would persist in the design of Ward 7 and its twin, Ward F.

Ward 11

• Date completed: 1922
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’07.5″N 123°09’38.7″W
• Patient capacity: 35
• Original cost: $5,584.10 (adjusted for 2025: $104,964.89)
• Date demolished: before 1929

The later Ward 7 (presently the Great Compassion House and the Main Dining Hall) occupies its former location.

Wards A, B, C

• Date completed: 1893
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’07.5″N 123°09’38.7″W
• See the Main Building entry for more information
• Date demolished: May 9, 1952¹

The original women’s wards were located in the southern part of the main building. For more information, see the main entry for the main building here. Note that unlike the equivalent male wards of 1, 2, and 3, this women’s ward building featured a pitched roof.

Wards D, E

• Date completed: 1908
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’57.8″N 123°09’42.9″W
• Patient capacity: 108
• Original cost: $35,391 (adjusted for 2025: $665,248.19)
• Date demolished: circa 1955

The first dedicated ward building for female patients, the site of this building is now the side parking lot of the Administration Office.

Work was commenced on the female cottage building (for which an appropriation was made at the special session of the legislature of 1906 ), in March of this year. The foundations and first story of this building have been completed and the work of construction is well in hand. This work is being done by days’ labor , and under the direction of the Board of Managers. The first story is concrete and the second story reinforced brick, and will accommodate about 125 patients when completed. Apparatus for hydrotherapeutic treatment of the acute insane will be installed in the building, and highly beneficial results are expected from this method of treatment.⁵

Ward F (original)

• Date completed: 1909
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’57.2″N 123°09’43.4″W
• Patient capacity: 43
• Original cost: $3,000 (adjusted for 2025: $97,246.22)
• Date demolished: circa 1939

This U-shaped building was constructed as temporary housing for female patients with tuberculosis. It appears to have been located adjacent to Wards D&E on the east side of the building’s rear wing (see annotated image above). By 1939, it was recorded as housing “46 old and feeble women patients” and was deemed by the state fire marshal to be the “worst building in the Institution” and “it is recommended that this building be condemned and that it be razed as soon as possible.”⁶

The site of this building is now part of the side parking lot of the Administration Office.

Ward Buildings (Extant)

The following buildings are still extant on the campus of The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.

Ward 12 / Units 5 & 6 / Special Custodial Building

• Date completed: 1928 (addition completed in 1938)
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’08.9″N 123°09’38.5″W
• Patient capacity: 64 / 300 (with addition)
• Original cost: $150,000 for initial building⁷ (adjusted for 2025: $2,754,372.83)
• Current building name: Tathagata Monastery (如來寺)
• Current building use: Monks’ residence

This was the “special custodial building” (prison) for those deemed to be “criminally insane” until that ward was moved to Atascadero State Hospital in 1954. The ward was designed by Alfred Eichler, then a Senior Architectural Designer for California’s Department of Public Works. Google Arts & Culture has an exhibit on his work here.

The original building was an “L”-shaped one, and an expansion was added in 1938 in order to turn the building into a fully enclosed building with an inner recreation yard. The building was also formerly surrounded by a concrete wall that was taken down after the criminally insane ward was moved to Atascadero. The name for the building was changed after it was no longer a prison; Ward 12 became referred to as Units 5 and 6, a designation which persisted until the closure of the hospital. The first floor was designated Unit 5, while the second was Unit 6.

Before the expansion, an anticipatory description of the unit described it as:

On the first floor is an entrance lobby, office, visitors’ room, dining room, pantry, shoe room, clothes room, wash room, shower room, dressing room, general toilet room and 29 single rooms.

The second floor contains a hydriatic room for the hydrotherapy treatments which are the major treatments, wash room, general toilet rooms, an assembly and day room and 37 single rooms, all single rooms being approximately 7 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 6 inches.

Both floors of the building have necessary storage rooms and closets, night watch quarters and wide 8-foot corridors. The whole building has an abundance of natural light and ventilation and represents the last word in sanitation. Food is prepared in the institution’s main kitchen and brought to this unit in containers where it is served from the pantry.

One of the many features of this building is the window opening arrangement. Windows are enclosed with steel sash and frames divided into small panels of wire glass. This makes it impossible to shatter the glass area or to make an exit should a glass panel be removed. The area of the window to open is constructed of double frame and muntins. The exterior section is glazed and the interior section unglazed and stationary, thus making a guarded opening after the exterior section is swung open. Metal rolling screens cover the openings. This style of window opening does away with the old method of installing steel bars, but still maintains an adequate degree of safety.⁸

Another description after the addition described Ward 12 as:

“Mentally ill criminals — A special building of 300 beds is in use for mentally ill persons under criminal commitment at the Mendocino State Hospital. There are attractive features about this building. It surrounds a courtyard and for the most part is but one story in height. On the other hand the court is too small and lacks grass and trees. Everything about the building is very strong, but it is spacious and has many plumbing fixtures. The only sitting room is the assembly hall, full of benches. The only exercise on stormy days is running a polisher in the corridor. Little care is given to the patients. One section of the house is a cell block, and it is thought that there are enough persons of desperate inclination to justify the presence of this structure.”⁹

Ward 7 (new)

• Date completed: 1929, 1931
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’06.5″N 123°09’35.9″W
• Patient capacity: 361
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Great Compassion House (大悲院), Five Contemplations (Dining) Hall (五觀堂)
• Current building use: School dormitory and lay housing

Ward 7 was rebuilt in its current form from 1929-1931 (its cornerstone is from 1929) as a quad with ten separate wards and a large day room and dining room. This building is a near-twin of the later rebuilt Ward F. CTTB later added a large steel structure in between the day room and dining room, which is the main dining hall for campus today.

According to documents, the building was built in two stages: The communal day room and dining room and five annexes were built in 1929, then five more were added later to complete the quad in 1931.

Ward 8

• Date completed: 1910
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’04.2″N 123°09’39.2″W
• Patient capacity: 94
• Original cost: $46,239.09 (adjusted for 2025: $1,498,858.98)
• Current building name: Dharma Realm Buddhist University Administration/”Guest House”
• Current building use: Classrooms and offices

This is presently the oldest public building on campus, having survived the demolitions the hospital embarked on during the 1950s. It is the only building on campus built in the Mission Revival style, albeit in a very plain form. This was also the first permanent building for male patients apart from the Main Building.

A two-story cottage of reinforced concrete construction , with sufficient room for sixty patients , has been completed and furnished. In this cottage is a department for hydrotherapy , well equipped with all of the modern apparatus.¹⁰

Ward 9 & M / Receiving Building / Receiving Cottage

• Date completed: 1925
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’01.5″N 123°09’46.5″W
• Patient capacity: 59
• Original cost: $149,968.39 (adjusted for 2025: $2,753,792.39)
• Current building name: Tower of Blessings (福居樓)
• Current building use: Nuns’ residences

This building served as the receiving building for new patients before they were assigned to more permanent wards. Ward 9 was designated for men, while Ward M was for women. This building was later integrated into the 1950s-era Receiving and Treatment (R/T) building and many changes were made as to render it almost unrecognizable today: The Spanish tile roof was removed and a flat roof installed, two wings were attached to its ends, and some windows were bricked up.

After its integration into the R/T building, this building primarily hosted medical facilities and operating rooms.

Ward 10 / Canteen

• Date completed: 1918
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’03.7″N 123°09’36.3″W
• Patient capacity: 46
• Original cost: $14,000 (adjusted for 2025: $317,671)
• Current building name: Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant (君康素齋館)
• Current building use: Restaurant

This ward was later renovated into the campus canteen (commissary), which was a legally separate entity from MSH.

Ward 14

• Date completed: 1930
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’05.3″N 123°09’31.9″W
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Developing Virtue Secondary (Boys’ Division) (培德中學男校)
• Current building use: Elementary and high school

Note: this building is a twin of Ward I.

Ward 15

• Date completed: 1932
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’02.8″N 123°09’32.6″W
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Library (圖書館)
• Current building use: Library

Note: this building is a twin of Ward K.

Wards 1, 2, 3, 4

• Date completed: 1952
• Location (coordinates): 39°08’06.0″N 123°09’29.2″W
• Patient capacity: 404¹¹
• Original cost:
• Current building name: DRBU Classrooms
• Current building use: University classrooms and offices, IT department

Ward F (current)

• Date completed: 1939
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’53.6″N 123°09’40.9″W
• Patient capacity: 300¹²
• Original cost: $212,353¹³ (adjusted for 2025: $4,818,456.42)
• Current building name: Joyous Giving House (喜捨院)
• Current building use: Nuns’ residences

This building is a near-twin of Ward 7. It was constructed in part to replace the unsafe original Ward F, and was the last major building completed before the outbreak of World War II led to the suspension of large building projects at MSH for the duration of the war. Testing of the ground began by February 1939, with $35.000 allocated for furnishings and equipment.¹⁴

Ward G

• Date completed: 1926
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’56.8″N 123°09’41.3″W
• Patient capacity: 86
• Original cost: $54,616.26 (adjusted for 2025: $969,273.85)
• Current building name: Instilling Goodness Elementary (Girls’ Division) (育良小學女校)
• Current building use: Elementary school

This building later housed offices and physical therapy rooms and was no longer used as a ward by the 1960s.

Note: This building is a twin of Ward H.

Ward H

• Date completed: 1926
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’56.4″N 123°09’37.6″W
• Patient capacity: 86
• Original cost: $54,616.26 (adjusted for 2025: $969,273.85)
• Current building name: Developing Virtue Secondary (Girls’ Division) (培德中學女校)
• Current building use: High school

Note: This building is a twin of Ward G.

Ward I (“Eye”)

• Date completed: 1929
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’58.7″N 123°09’34.8″W
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Ordination Platform (戒壇)
• Current building use: Monastic center

Note: this building is a twin of Ward 14.

Ward K

• Date completed: 1931
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’58.1″N 123°09’31.0″W
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Virtue House/Wordless Hall (無言堂)
• Current building use:

Note: this building is a twin of Ward 15.

Receiving and Treatment Building (R/T Building)

• Date completed:
• Location (coordinates):
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Bodhi House (菩提精舍)
• Current building use:

Ward A (Female Convalescent)

• Date completed: 1951
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’55.7″N 123°09’34.2″W
• Patient capacity: 98¹⁵
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Developing Virtue Secondary (Girls’ dorm) (女校宿舍)
• Current building use: School dormitory

Wards B, C (Female Disturbed)

• Date completed: 1951
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’55.3″N 123°09’29.3″W
• Patient capacity: 164¹⁶
• Original cost:
• Current building name: Xuyun Residences (虛雲精舍)
• Current building use: University dormitory

Ward D

• Date completed: 1955
• Location (coordinates): 39°07’52.6″N 123°09’33.8″W
• Patient capacity:
• Original cost:
• Current building name:
• Current building use:

The original name of this building went through various iterations; in early hospital files it’s variously labeled as Wards 15 or 16, indicating that it was originally intended to be built as a male ward, and perhaps not on the main MSH campus. In the end, it was constructed as a female ward next to other pre-existing female wards. This was the last major new building constructed at MSH.

It is also the only building on the former MSH campus that lies within the 100-year flood zone of nearby Mill Creek, which runs to the south of the building.

Footnotes

1. Redwood Journal Press-Dispatch, (1952, May 9), page 1. ↩︎
2. 1906 Biennial Report, page 75. ↩︎
3. 1922 Biennial Report, page 36. ↩︎
4. Redwood Journal Press-Dispatch, (1952, May 9), page 1. ↩︎
5. 1908 Biennial Report, page 78. ↩︎
6. State Marshal’s Survey of State Institutions, page 11. ↩︎
7. California Highways and Public Works, February-March 1928, page 11 ↩︎
8. California Highways and Public Works, February-March 1928, pages 11-12, and 29. ↩︎
9. A Survey of the Mental Institutions of the State of California (1943), page 29. ↩︎
10. 1910 Biennial Report, page 92. ↩︎
11. Pomo News, (1949, March 15), page 8. ↩︎
12. Healdsburg Tribune and Enterprise, (1939, February 23), page 4. ↩︎
13. Ukiah Republican Press, (1939, June 21), page 8. ↩︎
14. Healdsburg Tribune and Enterprise, (1939, February 23), page 4. ↩︎
15. 1951 Statistical Report, page 1. ↩︎
16. 1951 Statistical Report, page 1. ↩︎