The Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane opened in 1880. It was a collaboration between two men pre-eminent in their fields: building architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

After the construction of the Strozzi Building in 1965, the Buffalo Psychiatric Center relocated its patients. The Richardson complex fell into disrepair but still attained National Historic Landmark in 1986.

In 2002, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture and other plaintiffs sued New York State for failure to maintain the Richardson buildings. The lawsuit led to a deal in which Gov. George Pataki committed $100 million to restoring and making use of the buildings and grounds. (About $14 million of those funds have been diverted to other projects.) The Richardson Center Corp., led by Buffalo News publisher Stan Lipsey, was established to create and administer a plan.

The original asylum grounds included a working farm, which provided employment and food for the patients. The Forest Lawn Cemetery extended the site’s green space, now Delaware Park. The northern farm grounds are now part of the Buffalo State College campus. Significant portions of Olmsted’s plan for the site, as well as some significant sections of Richardson’s buildings, have been covered by parking lots and modern construction.

The Richardson Center Corp’s plan is still forthcoming. Mr. Lipsey wants an architectural museum, a visitors center, a restaurant, apartments, offices and maybe even a hotel on the grounds.

The design plan of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo envisions a “walkable ribbon of Olmsted landscape that runs from the Richardson complex all the way to Forest Lawn and Delaware Park.”

In short, Greater Buffalo and Mr. Tielman want to honor the historic complex of buildings and the historic grounds.