Certain architecture tends to lend itself to the macabre, with Gothic Revival, Victorian and Richardsonian Romanesque styles naturally evoking haunting imagery and thoughts. So it is no surprise that filmmakers turn to such designs time and time again to serve as backdrops in productions of a dark nature. Take, for example, the Ford Complex, an affecting collection of English Gothic structures framed by a vast forest that was selected to masquerade as a spooky psychiatric facility in not one, but two recent productions, most notably as Pennhurst Mental Hospital on the latest season of “Stranger Things.”
Purported to be located in Kerley County, Ind., on the beloved Netflix series, in real life, the arresting complex stands on the grounds of Berry College, a private liberal arts school at 2277 Martha Berry Hwy NW in Mount Berry, Ga., about 70 miles northwest of Atlanta. (Bonus – the Victorian residence used as the Creel family’s home on the show can be found just a few miles south at 906 E. 2nd Ave. in neighboring Rome.)
Initially established at the turn of the 20th Century, the college’s history is rooted in altruism. Its creation came about thanks to Martha Berry, the daughter of a wealthy area businessman, who happened to encounter some local children while reading a bible on her property one fateful day and was disheartened to discover that they did not regularly attend school or church. To rectify the issue, she began hosting weekly Sunday school classes. The gatherings became so popular, in 1902 she officially established the Boys’ Industrial School on 83 acres of woodsy land she had inherited from her father. A girls’ facility and junior and senior colleges subsequently followed.
Work and giving back became integral to the college’s teachings. The New Georgia Encyclopedia website explains, “From its inception, the Berry program emphasized the regenerative power of work. Diligent labor, she believed, would promote character in her students by encouraging responsibility and a sense of self-worth. Beginning in 1914, students at the schools would work each week for eight hours on two consecutive days and attend classes on four other days. The work program helped to keep operating costs low, as students constructed the campus and maintained its facilities, and allowed students to use their labor to pay all of their tuition and expenses.”
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Berry College The college soon caught the attention of the likes of such wealthy individuals as Emily Vanderbilt Hammond, Andrew Carnegie and Theodore Roosevelt, all of whom were eager to make donations to the worthy cause. The Ford Complex was the brainchild of automotive titan Henry Ford and his wife, Clara, who visited the campus in 1921 and endowed Martha with a significant contribution to erect a series of buildings on the northern portion of the school’s grounds. The first structures in the complex, Clara Hall, a 120-person dormitory, and Ford Hall, a dining room modeled after that of Christ College at Oxford, were completed in 1925. An auditorium, library, recreation hall, weaving room, recitation hall and additional dorms were added three years later. To design the structures, Ford employed Harry J. Carlson of Boston’s Coolidge & Carlson architectural firm, Italian stonemasons Antonio and Ettore Cescutti, and Spanish engineer Rafael Guastavino.
According to the Rome Office of Tourism website, “Ford chose his own architects and stonemasons to ensure that this venture would be a beautiful success. However, he did not want to be accredited for these buildings at Berry because he believed that then he would be expected to maintain them throughout his life.” As such, the structures were initially named the “Martha Berry School for Girls.” It wasn’t until Henry’s passing in 1947 that they became known as the Ford Complex.
Berry College has been expanded several times over the years and today encompasses an incredible 27,000 acres of land, with the distinction of being the largest campus in the world! Duke University in Durham, N.C., by comparison, measures 8,600 acres, while Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., comprises 5,000. Consisting of vast forests, grassy meadows, colorful gardens, a dappling of fountains and lakes and a broad array of exquisite Gothic buildings with glorious stone facades, the school also counts as one of the nation’s most beautiful and is frequently included in Architectural Digest’s “Prettiest College Campuses in America” list.
As such, Berry has become a favorite of location managers, selected to appear in countless productions over the years, including “The Following,” “Dutch,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “The Haves and the Have Nots” and “Heaven Must Wait.” The Ford Complex itself also boasts quite a vast film and television history.
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Image Credit: Google It is there that Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) head in the season four episode of “Stranger Things” titled “Chapter Four: Dear Billy” in the hopes of securing a face-to-face with suspected murderer Victor Creel (Robert Englund), who has been incarcerated in Pennhurst Mental Hospital’s Criminal Ward since 1959.
For the scene, prop hospital signage was placed bridging Bertrand Way, just north of where it intersects with Memorial Dr.
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Image Credit: Camsjo at English Wikipedia Posing as psychology students, the two intrepid teens meet with Warden Anthony Hatch (Ed Amatrudo) in the Ford Complex’s Office of Admissions building, and, after some major arm-twisting, he takes them on a brief tour of Pennhurst. The gardens outside the Ford Dining Hall are where Hatch informs the duo that, while patients can easily escape the grounds, “the vast majority choose to be here.” Nancy and Robin later run through that same area while making a getaway to their car after being discovered as frauds.
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Image Credit: Netflix One of Ford’s common rooms was also utilized in the episode. But the subterranean Criminal Ward, where Victor is jailed, was just a set constructed at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta. Fans will be delighted to learn, though, that the area below the Ford Complex holds its own mysteries! As the Berry College website details, “There are a series of closed tunnels running underneath the Ford buildings, known on campus as the ‘catacombs.’ Though surrounded by campus lore, their main function is to house air conditioning ductwork for the buildings.”
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Image Credit: Froggerlaura at English Wikipedia The complex’s Mary Hall also serves as an asylum – the Ravenscar Psychiatric Facility For the Mentally Deranged, where John Constantine (Matt Ryan) is a patient – on the NBC series “Constantine.”
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Image Credit: Disney Channel Other productions to feature the Ford Complex include the 1991 made-for-television movie “Perfect Harmony,” in which it portrays Blanton Boys Academy, where Derek Sanders (Peter Scolari) is recruited to work as a choirmaster.
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Image Credit: Buena Vista Pictures And it pops up as the Gettysburg College training camp, where the T.C. Williams High School Titans spend two weeks training for the upcoming football season in the 2000 sports drama “Remember the Titans.”
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Image Credit: Buena Vista Pictures The stunning interior of the Ford Dining Hall appears in several of the “Remember the Titans” training camp scenes. as well.