Obituary: Thomas Horty designed safer hospitals

It was the 1950s. In rural Minnesota, sick and injured people were treated in rooms whose design had changed little over many years. Soiled linens and surgical instruments sometimes shared spaces with sterile materials.

Then Thomas Horty brought his brand of form and function to hospital architecture.

Horty, recognized as a pioneer in designing health care facilities, died last month at age 88 at his home in Arden Hills.

"Some of the designs that Tom did ... are still being used today," said Leo Monster, an architect colleague of 40 years. "He was ahead of his time."

Horty and his associates designed or remodeled about 60 percent of rural hospitals in the state over several decades. The idea was to make the buildings safer and more efficient, "trying to bring something as state-of-the-art as he could to those little towns," said Rick Moore, another colleague.

Horty was born in Budapest, Hungary, and was sent to the United States as a youngster in 1936 to live with an uncle to avoid the approaching war.

"His father wanted him to be a doctor," said Claudia Horty, the architect's daughter. "He started out in pre-med, but it wasn't his thing. He didn't like blood."

As it turned out, Horty didn't avoid World War II. He joined the Army and returned to Europe, his survivors said. Afterward, he graduated from the University of Minnesota, where he studied architecture.

His passion for designing hospitals and other health care facilities coincided with a trend in the 1950s to build or remodel rural hospitals in the Upper Midwest.

Moore characterized Horty's style as "clean, modern ... minimalist" and said it worked well in communities with limited funds to spend on hospitals.

But he made his mark by making them safer. Healthcare Design Magazine recently credited him with innovations that later became standard practice in the health care industry or part of state codes.

His biggest contribution was separating contagious and clean areas by a wall.

Horty designed a hospital in Canby with all private rooms, one of the first in the United States. It was an innovation in patient privacy and helped reduce the spread of hospital illnesses.

Horty started his career in 1948 at Ellerbe Architects. He began his own firm in 1955 and later named it Horty Elving and Associates. He remained president until his death.

He became a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1986.

Horty liked to say, "He who loves his work never labors," and he continued showing up to work at his office in the days before his death on Nov. 18.

Besides daughter Claudia, he is also survived by sons Chris and Scott, grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.