Behind a set of towering metal gates, a 3.4-acre site in Glendale that was once a pioneering mental health facility run by women for women has laid in decay for years. Now, the city has approved a plan — estimated to cost nearly $8 million — to turn a portion of the Rockhaven Sanitarium site into a mental health museum.
The plans call for renovating the part of the property known as the Pines Cottage, built in 1931, to preserve its architecture, restore the surrounding courtyards and landscaping and make it a place where people can gather. Conceptual drawings for the site envision rooms, many of them staged with period-specific furniture, that tell the stories of the women who lived there. “We want the site to be alive and active, and we want things that are going to draw people to come there again and again and again,” Glendale City Council member Dan Brotman said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Local preservationists have said the move by the City Council is an important step toward opening the site for public use and bringing the history of the place back into view. But there are some concerns that the design plans would strip the buildings of architectural details and character. When it opened in the 1920s, Rockhaven was groundbreaking for its time because it was owned and run by women and offered holistic care on beautiful grounds.
Over the years, the facility treated Hollywood types, including Billie Burke who played Glenda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz and Marilyn.