Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

I haven’t been down to Taunton to see the old Kirkbride in a long time now. I wanted to pretend that the demolition going on there isn’t happening, and that the building is still standing untouched and quietly beautiful as ever. But of course I wasn’t going to be able to avoid reality forever thanks to the internet. Some photos of the demolition are available here: I Less-than-Heart Massachusetts. Although I suspect the writer’s claim to have taken the very last pictures of TSH may be a little premature, it does look like the Kirkbride is pretty close to being a memory, if it isn’t already.

This morning, a reader sent me the URL to this article. The important part of which being the second to last sentence reading:

“[T]he company also expects within the next 30 days to start work tearing down 24 empty buildings on the grounds of the Taunton State Hospital.”

So demolition of the Taunton Kirkbride is a sure thing and it looks like it’ll happen this summer. There’s not much to say but too bad. It will be missed.

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.

Ahh, the end of the year: a time when bloggers can kick back, relax, and rehash what they’ve written about all year without looking like a lazy bum. Sweet. So in case you missed them, here’s a list of probably the most significant Kirkbride-related events the past 12 months has seen. Happy New Year everybody.

1) Avalon Danvers had it’s official grand opening.

2) What was left of Worcester State Hospital’s remaining wing was torn down.

3) Repairs began on the Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride building.

4) Weston State Hospital was re-rechristened The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum which began a wave of controversy. The Jordans also appear to have had a pretty successful year raising funds for preservation through tours and other activities.

5) The Kirkbride building at Greystone Park was finally abandoned (completely). While there were indications the building would be put up for auction, recent events have cast doubts on that possibility. More on that later…

6) Representatives from China visited Fergus Falls to consider reusing the former RTC as a college campus. Not surprisingly, it appears that possibility is still up in the air.

7) Part of the original building at Oregon State Hospital was saved from destruction and will be preserved.

8) And saddest of all, respected Traverse City State Hospital documenter Heidi Johnson passed away.

The other day I came across this fiscal year 2009 resource summary for the Massachusetts Office of Health & Human Services. I wanted to save the bad news for after Christmas… One of the items in their budget is “Demolition at Taunton State Hospital.” It has an allocation of 1.3 million dollars. The full description reads, “This funds the demolition of buildings damaged by fire in 2007. The fire damaged buildings are close to or contiguous to an operating DYS facility and represent a severe safety hazard.”

Looks like plans are being made to knock down what’s left of the Taunton Kirkbride soon. The eventual demolition of the Kirkbride has been pretty much a given since the fire, but I think this is the first definite sign that it’s going to happen in the not too distant future. It’ll certainly be a sad day when that building comes down. It really had a unique and understated beauty that I haven’t seen at any other Kirkbrides. I expect most people who’ve seen the building would agree. It’s also a special building to me personally because it was the first Kirkbride I ever saw the inside of.

On a brighter note, the resource summary also allocates $140,000 to fund “a study to preserve the vacant historic Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower building.”

The recent tours of Oregon State Hospital’s J Building proved to be very popular. However, the Statesman Journal reports that there won’t be any more of them because of demands on staff and upcoming asbestos abatement. You can read their article on the subject here: Popularity of J Building Tours Isn’t Enough to Continue Them. Make sure to check out the video tour. There’s a 10+ minute version in the upper left right (ah, duhhh…), and an unedited 48 minute version at the end of the article (which I’ll also include here to save you a click). It’s pretty interesting, especially if you’re a fan of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. (more…)

Of course they didn’t really tear it down, but Google Maps did replace the old aerial photograph of Danvers State Hospital (which included the full Kirkbride in all its glory) with a more recent photo showing a half built Avalon Danvers. It was always something of a comfort that even though Danvers was gone, Google Maps still had an image of the untouched Kirkbride up. Now they’ve updated and the illusion is gone.

Microsoft’s “bird’s eye view” of the former DSH campus still shows the full Kirkbride. But you’d better see it while you can. I’m sure it won’t be around for too much longer either. There’ll always be Historic Aerials of course, but somehow it’s not the same.

The future of the historic Center Building in Topeka, Kansas isn’t looking so good. This last remnant of the Topeka State Hospital Kirkbride is in danger of being torn down. The Topeka Unified School District is considering the purchase of the former state hospital grounds on which the building stands. If they do buy the property, many of the abandoned buildings on the property will be demolished, and the Kirkbride admin will very likely be among their number. While I’ve heard that this structure’s future hasn’t looked particularly hopeful even before now, I think this is the first indication of any real plans to knock it down.

Forum member Swansod made a post today about a small treasure trove of newspaper clippings he found while researching Worcester State Hospital. The clippings are from the 1930s, ’60s and ’90s. You can see reproductions on Swansod’s Zenfolio pages: WSH Related. (Hint: click on a thumbnail, then hover your mouse cursor over the larger version to get the download link. Download the file for a more legible version.)

Some high points from the articles include a map identifying each part of the Kirkbride (pictured above), mention of some films made by superintendent Dr William Bryan (which I’m trying to find more about), descriptions of various renovations over the years, LSD experiments, pictures of the hospital’s operating room, and information about the first phase of demolition which happened shortly after the Kirkbride fire in 1991.

A few weeks ago, one Jennifer Shipp emailed me pictures of Anna State Hospital (now Choate Mental Health Center) in Anna, Illinois. I was surprised to see that there’s actually a bit of its Kirkbride building left. I thought it had been completely torn down, but I was wrong. I apologize for misleading anyone regarding the status of this Kirkbride and have dutifully updated the Kirkbride lists.

As you can see from the pictures below, two stories of the administration center and a piece of wing off either side remain. I was told a fire (one of many in this hospital’s history) destroyed the upper floors. It’s sad to see the building so diminished, with only faint hints at its former grandeur. But I guess it’s better than nothing.