Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

A delegation from China visited Fergus Falls last week to inspect the RTC Kirkbride building. In case you don’t know, they’re considering using the former RTC for a Chinese language and business school.

From what I’ve heard there weren’t any dramatic or surprising developments during the visit. But things appear to have gone well and the tone in the local media is optimistic. Below are links to some related articles. (more…)

Just a reminder to those of you in the Buffalo, NY area: there’ll be a public meeting about the Richardson Complex this Wednesday, April 16th. The meeting starts at 6PM and will take place at the Buffalo and Eerie County Historical Society, 25 Nottingham Court, in Buffalo. Findings, recommendations, updates and plans on stabilization and redevelopment will be presented.

If anyone reading this attends, please let me know of any surprising or especially good/bad news. Thanks. I’m hoping there’ll be some fantastic revelation about preservation and reuse of this historic building—it’s definitely one of my favorites. I won’t be surprised if it’s just a rehashing of things we’ve heard before though. Things usually turn out to be a lot less exciting than my hopes… *sigh*

Unfortunately, tours of the Fergus Falls Kirkbride have been discontinued. Any tours that may still be happening in 2013 are booked up and the Friends of the Kirkbride are no longer taking reservations. The post below from 2008 will remain here for archival purposes.

The Friends of the Kirkbride in Minnesota are extending an invitation to everyone to tour the former Fergus Falls RTC. You can read more about it here: Kirkbride is a Treasure of Architecture.

Speaking of Fergus Falls, check out these aerial photos somebody posted on MySpace:

Aerial Pic One
Aerial Pic Two

Bryce Hospital has been in the news a bit this March. As mentioned in a previous post, the Bryce campus is likely to be sold to the University of Alabama. If the sale comes to pass, the hospital will move to another location, and the Kirkbride building will become the school’s property. One reader pointed out to me that the university president, Robert Witt, says the historic building will be left standing.

“UA does not have a plan for developing the Bryce property if it were to become part of the university, but Witt said any buildings on the National Historical Registry would be preserved.” (Tuscaloosa News, UA Hires Consultant to Work on Bryce Project) (more…)

Here’s a little update on the Fergus Falls Kirkbride building. Fergus Falls city politicians are asking the state government to exempt the former RTC campus from state property taxes. According to an article in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal (“RTC on Capitol Agenda“), the Fergus Falls mayor and a city council member were scheduled to present the request to the state this morning. It seems like only a small, sort of auxillary step towards preservation, but every little bit helps.

I haven’t heard anything lately about the proposed Chinese language and business studies college at Fergus Falls. I don’t know if that’s still a possibility for reuse of the Kirkbride or not. If anybody in the Fergus Falls area knows, please comment or send me an email. Thanks.

There was an interesting development reported yesterday concerning the former Hudson River Psychiatric campus. According to the Poughkeepsie News, three Hudson Heritage partners sold their shares of the property to the remaining partner who plans to continue redevelopment. There’s a more extensive article on the story available today: 3 Sell Psych Center Property Share. (more…)

There’s an article in The Buffalo News about repairs getting underway at the former Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride. Stabilization, roof repair, electricity and added security seem to be the priorities. There’s no surprising information here if you’ve been keeping up with the story, but the photos accompanying the article are a nice surprise. They show work being done on one of the outlying brick wards—the part of the building least likely to be saved. While it doesn’t mean anything for certain, it makes me hopeful that preservation of the brick wards is at least a possibility.

Note: Some time after this post was published, The Buffalo News archived the article mentioned and it is no longer available without a membership to their web site. The article can still be read here, although the pictures aren’t included.

For those of you in the Buffalo, New York area, there’s going to be a public meeting regarding the Richardson Olmstead Complex on Wednesday, April 16th. The meeting will be at 6PM at the Buffalo and Eerie County Historical Society, 25 Nottingham Court, in Buffalo. That’s about two months away, but mark your calendars… (more…)

There’s an article in The Birmingham News about a potential sale of Bryce Hospital. The adjoining University of Alabama is negotiating for the purchase of the property. Nothing’s definite yet, least of all the fate of the Kirkbride there, but there’s some worry that the building may be lost if the sale goes through. Hopefully preservation will win out, but unfortunately the odds aren’t in its favor if what’s happened to a few other Kirkbride buildings recently is anything to go by.

Although it looks like they’ve been around for a bit, this is news to me: the Richardson Center Corporation has a web site where you can learn about their mission to preserve the Richardson Complex and its surrounding grounds.

The most exciting thing (apart from the fact that they’re trying to save the building) is the creation of an Architecture and Visitor Center in the central part of the Kirkbride. They say its creation is already underway, but I don’t know if that means they’ve actually started moving in yet. Regardless, it seems likely that in the near future it’ll be possible for people to go inside the building. So that’s good news.