Transition Plan
The Transition Plan refers to a building plan period between the end of the Kirkbride Plan around 1888 and the start to the Cottage Plan around 1900. The Transition Plan typically reflects element of both the Kirkbride and Cottage plan. With the death of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride in December of 1883, the AMSAII and hospital trustees were quick to look for alternatives to the Kirkbride Plan which by 1883 was beginning to be widely discredited due to it's inability to properly segregate noisy and violent patients from those that were thought to have a better chance for being cured. A common example of the Transition Plan would be Norristown State Hospital in Pennsylvania. Construction on Norristown began in 1878 and consisted of a central Administration Building flanked at the rear on both sides by patient wards. The ward buildings were staggered out and back from the Administration Building, resembling the wings of a Kirkbride Building. However the ward buildings were connected by partially submerged tunnels rather than above ground hallways.
