Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

Here are a few recent items in the press concerning Kirkbride buildings…

1) RTC College Sets Sights on January 2010
According to this story, the cross-cultural Chinese business school destined to take over the former Fergus Falls Kirkbride may open by early next year.

2)  Renewed Efforts to Save Old Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County
Morris County doesn’t want the Greystone Kirkbride, but they do want some of the land around it. Apparently the state government won’t have it. It’s all or nothing as far as they’re concerned.

3) UA Making Plans to Weather Storm
This article doesn’t go into much detail about the University of Alabama’s impending purchase of the Bryce Hospital campus, but it’s worth noting that the school still plans on making the acquisition in spite of the turbulent economic climate.

The day after I posted about the new Saint Eizabeths Hospital page, the DC Preservation League announced a new tour for April 4th. Unfortunately the tour filled up quickly and this post is pretty much useless—except to inform you that you can sign up for the waiting list.

Maybe they’ll schedule a tour for another day if there’s enough interest. Signing up for the waiting list is the best way to be notified if that happens, and to show the League that there’s enough interest.

I finally got around to adding a page for the Kirkbride building in Washington, DC: Saint Elizabeths Hospital. I was fortunate enough to get on the DC Preservation League’s tour of the West Campus this past December. Unfortunately, the sun was low on the horizon and behind the building. So the exterior pictures of the Kirkbride’s facade are a bit dark and flat. Oh well. The League may be putting together tours of the campus again this Spring. If I’m lucky I’ll get another chance to take pictures when there’s more light on the front of the building, and more greenery around too.

Even though the Saint Elizabeths Kirkbride isn’t on my list of favorites (I’d even go as far as saying it’s on the ugly side), the hospital campus itself is really beautiful. The view of Washington, DC alone is fantastic. But the variety of trees which fill out the grounds are also attractive and cast some amazing shadows. Then there’s the sense of history you feel when walking around all those old historic buildings on the outskirts of the nation’s capital.

If tours are given again this Spring, I really recommend signing up. There may not be many more chances to see this Kirkbride after the Department of Homeland Security starts transforming the West Campus into its new headquarters. Most likely, you won’t get to see the inside of the Kirkbride on the tour, but walking around the campus is interesting enough and won’t cost you anything either. If I hear anything about the tours, I’ll mention it here. So stay tuned.

Over the last few months I’ve actually started using my Facebook profile and have to admit it’s pretty addictive. In case you’ve been living under a rock in a cave somewhere on Mars, Facebook is a social networking site that allows you to keep in touch and up-to-date with friends, family and other associates, as well as with your favorite bands, TV channels, companies, whatever.

It’s nice to see that Kirkbride buildings have a small presence on the site. There’s the Kirkbride buildings page, the Project Kirkbride group, an unofficial Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum group, and a really nice profile for The Village at Grand Traverse Commons (formerly Traverse City State Hospital) where you can find out about upcoming events and see some pictures of the goings-on there. If you’ve got your own Facebook profile, please become fans or join these groups to show your support.

I hope there’ll be more Kirkbride-related stuff on Facebook in the future. Seems like the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum should have an official profile/page, as well as The Richardson Olmsted Complex and Hudson Heritage Park.

Topeka Public Schools has officially purchased the former Topeka State Hospital campus: 501 Buys Former State Hospital Land.

As I’ve mentioned before, this will probably lead to the demolition of the remaining piece of Topeka’s Kirkbride. To be fair, I haven’t heard that that’s an absolute fact, but it does appear likely.

squad546 over at the Asylum Projects Forum scored the biggest asylum-related find of the year (so far) by tracking down video footage of the 1991 Worcester State Hospital fire. The video was taken by a gentleman named Michael Newton, who gave squad546 permission to post it on the web. I’ve included a few screenshots in this post, but you can see a lot more here: Worcester Fire Footage.

squad546 will try to get the actual video uploaded to the web soon. I’ll link to it once it’s available. I’d like to give a big thanks to Mr Newton for sharing this footage. It’s sad to see, but amazing at the same time, and I’m glad it was documented like this. (more…)

I’m a little late on this, but there was an article last week about preservationists calling for the protection of historical structures on the campus of the former Columbia State Hospital campus (which the state is now offering for sale). The historical structures include, of course, the Kirkbride building. You can read the story here: Push on to Protect State Hospital Structures.

I’m not too familiar with the Columbia Kirkbride and have never seen it in person. From pictures I’ve seen though it looks like it’s in fair condition, and from this article I get the sense it has a decent chance of survival. If anyone reading this knows better, please comment. Thanks.

In this video from MilitaryTimes, GSA Department Director, Dawud Abdur-Rahman talks about the proposed Department of Homeland Security headquarters at Saint Elizabeths hospital. There’s some nice footage of the historic buildings, including the Kirkbride. Note that Abdur-Rahman believes construction will begin this year.

There’s a new web site concerning the fate of Greystone Park at www.preservegreystone.org. It’s owned by the group dedicated to preserving the Greystone Park site for recreation, open space and historic preservation, instead of residential and commercial development. If you’re looking for information on what’s currently happening with the Greystone Park campus, preservegreystone.org will keep you up to date. (more…)

Somebody just pointed me to a Buffalo News article about the Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride which describes in more detail than usual the proposed plans for the building: Hotel and Park Proposed for Richardson Complex.

I really hope a hotel goes in. I’ll make a trip out to Buffalo at least once a year if I can spend a few days living in that Kirkbride. Maybe I’d even start a little annual convention for Kirkbride enthusiasts.

And remember, there’s going to be a public meeting on Tuesday, January 27 in Rockwell Hall, Buffalo State College about these plans (for the hotel not my imaginary convention:). So if you live in the area, check it out.