Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, redevelopment plans for the former Hudson River State Hospital campus are moving forward: 750 Housing Units Are Planned. In addition to the 750 housing units, developers Hudson Heritage and the Community Preservation Corporation want to create 350,000 square feet of commercial space, most of which would be for retail purposes. (more…)

There’s a story on TuscaloosaNews.com about efforts to get Bryce Hospital designated a national historic landmark: Panel Urges Landmark Protection for Bryce. The application for landmark status has to be made within a month, but much like that fickle girlfriend or boyfriend we’ve all had at one time in our lives, the University of Alabama wants to keep its options open. So far it has opposed the landmark application. The school plans to purchase the Bryce Hospital property when the hospital moves in a year or so, and seems to believe that landmark status will somehow “hurt the university if it owned the building.” (more…)

LiveJournal user laurapalmer813 posted some photos of the Kirkbride building in Dayton, Ohio today. (This is the Kirkbride that’s been turned into a retirement home.) If you’re interested, check out the photos. The building looks pretty good, maybe a little boring since it’s lost some ornamentation, but still pretty good. Looks like it’ll be around for a good long while.

Asylum enthusiast Taylor/WSH posted about this on the forum: Joe Jordan, current owner of the Weston State Hospital Kirkbride has received funds from the state to repair the building’s clocktower. West Virginia’s Historic Preservation Office has granted $104,000 for repairs. Mr Jordan will match the grant with another $104,000 plus work from staff and volunteers. Work is expected to begin around the first of September. (more…)

I just heard this from a friend: on June 3rd, Nor-East Architectural Antiques burned to the ground. Nor’East was the company that won salvage rights to Danvers State Hospital as well as to the Northampton, Foxboro, and Metropolitan state hospitals.

Not only have we lost most of the buildings, but now all these artifacts are gone as well. I don’t know all the details, but there must have been many beautiful pieces of asylum history that burnt in the flames. Hopefully a good number of items salvaged from the hospitals were sold well before this tragedy though. (more…)

No, I’m not talking about ghosts, it’s some Avalon Danvers residents who are apparently unhappy. I was looking around for news items about Danvers State Hospital, and came across some reviews of Avalon Danvers from current residents of the complex. Complaints range from noise and traffic problems, unresponsive management, unseemly neighbors, and “corners cut on construction”. I’m sure all you Avalon haters will enjoy reading these: (more…)

Today’s Salem News has an article about last night’s grand opening ceremony at Avalon Danvers: Officials Celebrate Rebirth of Danvers State Property. Even with all the congratulations about what they did preserve, I still don’t believe Avalon cared one bit about preserving anything at Danvers State Hospital. They only did what they had to do to get their hands on the property and cram as many multi-level crap shacks as they could fit on top of Hathorne Hill.

I have to agree with Richard Trask. The Avalon Danvers development was “an historical rape of an important structure, not just to Danvers but to the United States.”

Continuing with the theme of my previous post, I thought I’d put the spotlight on a very thoughtful and fair take on the matter written by a gentleman named Don Moore.

Mr Moore comes from the side taking strong offense at use of the word “lunatic”. By looking beyond the word however, he’s found a better understanding of the Jordans’ activities and sees real value in some of the efforts they’ve made (although this doesn’t mean he agrees with everything they do). (more…)

I thought the furor over the Weston name change had died down a little, but evidently not. There’s a protest demonstration planned at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum this weekend. Adding fuel to the fire perhaps is a new t-shirt being sold by the Jordans. The shirt (pictured above) says, “I went nuts at…” on the front, and “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum” on the back. The “I went nuts at…” part is undeniably crass. Depending on your sense of humor and feelings about proper terminology, you might chuckle or you might be incensed. But the list of reasons for admission is the really funny part and adds something to what appears to be a simple-minded joke at first.

Okay, it’s not funny as in I’m laughing myself sick, but it definitely made me smirk and think a little. Some of the reasons are so ridiculous: dissolute habits, bad company, laziness, egotism, political excitement, deranged masturbation… Who hasn’t experienced these things? (more…)

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…)