As a historic building, Ensor stands in juxtaposition and adjacent to the Fireflies Baseball Stadium. This 2-story historic renovation by Hughes Development Corporation, Buchanan Construction Services and Studio 2LR Architecture has approximately 3,600 square feet on each floor.
The Ensor building is a small, neoclassical brick building on the northern side of the BullStreet site. Architects Lafaye and Lafaye designed and constructed this building to be a multifunctional and progressive new addition to the State Hospital campus during the mid twentieth century, with the primary function to be a research laboratory. The architectural style also communicates a lot about Ensor’s role in the historical significance of the State Hospital. The neoclassical style of the building itself demands attention. The western elevation includes four brick pilasters with Doric style plinths and capitals. A rounded arch tops the front door.
Also, brick pilasters line the southern facing elevation. The style echoes that of the Williams Building and demonstrates the resurgence of this American architecture during this time between the Great Depression and World War II.
This style portrays hope, knowledge, and truth, aspects that define the future Ensor Research Foundation that would inhabit the building. The structure has a sturdy, weighty quality, and even though it is not very large, it communicates strength and endurance. Furthermore, the building’s style contrasts its neighbor to the south, the Babcock Building. Babcock’s Victorian style represented hope and magnificence during its time of construction, however, the Kirkbride planned building that experts were so sure of in the nineteenth century, represented everything that did not work in the treatment of mental illness by the 1930s. Learn more about the Ensor Building here.