Burlingame Building, Institute of Living (1948)

One of the buildings on the campus of the Institute of Living (originally chartered in 1822 as the Retreat for the Insane) in Hartford is the Burlingame Research Building. Erected in 1948, the eight-story building was designed by architect Irving W. Rutherford and was named for Dr. C. Charles Burlingame (1885-1950), who was superintendent of the institution in the 1930s-40s. Atop the building is a tower that displays the symbol of the Caduceus on four sides and is crowned by a golden dome. The tower was lit at night because it was directly in line with runways at Brainard Field (see “Dome Atop Burlingame Building Completed At Institute Of Living,” Hartford Courant, November 25, 1948). The following year a connected eight-story part of the building, called the Psycho-Surgery Building, was opened. (see “Psycho-Surgery Plant Now In Use At Institute,” Hartford Courant, April 17, 1949). Here lobotomies were performed until the 1960s. The operating room was on the sixth floor and the fifth floor was the infirmary for care of immediate post-operative patients. The fourth floor was described in the Hartford Courant (in the 1949 article referenced above) as “unique in the hospital world.” It contained classrooms for retraining those who had been operated on, including social, vocational and recreational development. Subjects included home economics, commercial art, and accounting. Today the Institute is part of Hartford Hospital and the Burlingame Building contains a library and offices.