The landmark H.H. Richardson psychiatric hospital will be temporarily open to the public during the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference later this month, but that is only part of the good news.

The other part involves important progress on what is now known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex. The mammoth facility, with its Gothic and French Renaissance towers, was completed in the late 1800s and is a National Historic Landmark. Its iconic Tower Building was last occupied in the early 1990s.

The complex was the largest project of Henry Hobson Richardson's career and one of the first to display his trademark "Richardsonian Romanesque" style. It is internationally known as one of the best examples of his work. This treasure adds to the multitude of architectural, art and cultural gems that will be on display during the conference.

The former Buffalo State Hospital is a masterwork by the first of America's top three architects, augmented by a brilliant landscape designed by master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and partner Calvert Vaux.

It is unforgivable that the state, which owns the complex, did nothing to maintain this masterpiece. For decades, the state not only let the complex languish, it refused even to allow volunteers to preserve the structure on their own.

Instead, the state allowed one of this nation's architectural treasures to fall into terrible disrepair and, in the end, saddle taxpayers with the enormous bill for resurrecting it.

 The conference is focusing attention on the work that has already been done at the complex.

The Richardson Center Corp.'s Master Plan, as developed with Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, includes turning the Tower Building and two buildings flanking it into a boutique hotel and conference center, architecture center and possible Visit Buffalo Niagara satellite location. Construction is planned to begin by 2013, with the hotel and other entities opening in 2014.

Repurposing even this relatively small portion of the complex is a huge undertaking.

Progress to this point has been made thanks to years of hard work by the volunteer Richardson Center Corp., the nonprofit agency established by Gov. George E. Pataki in

July 2006. Many of these members are the same ones who worked so diligently on restoration of the Darwin Martin House Complex. The Richardson project is much bigger and more difficult.

 About $13 million has been spent so far, about $10 million for stabilization and $3 million on preconstruction costs. It cost about $600,000 just to rehabilitate a small portion of the Tower Building, including temporary mechanicals. The cost for the "baseline plan" being pursued is about $53 million, with $14 million eligible for historic tax credits, a long-sought benefit shepherded through the Legislature by then-Assemblyman Sam Hoyt.

The Richardson board continues to invest its time and effort in rehabilitating and reusing portions of this massive architectural legacy with an eye toward making it economically viable.

The Richardson Olmsted Complex is one of the three jewels in Buffalo's architectural crown, along with Louis Sullivan's Guaranty Building, now owned by the Hodgson Russ law firm, and the Darwin Martin House Complex, the largest and costliest restoration of any Frank Lloyd Wright building in the world. All three will be on display during the upcoming National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference. The National Trust is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving America's historic places. Its conferences draw participants from around the world.

There remains much work left to fully rehabilitate the Richardson Olmsted Complex. The dedication of the Richardson board, with help from state officials, is turning a crumbling structure into a masterpiece that will be an international draw for cultural tourists.