Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

Many years ago (more than I care to count), when I first learned about Danvers State Hospital, there weren’t really that many good web pages about it. One of those few quality pages was hosted at danverslibrary.org, the website of the Danvers Archival Center at the Peabody Institute Library. It didn’t have that much information though, and only a few small images. I would still visit the page every so often to look at the pictures and see if there was anything new added, but there never was. I gave up checking on it several years ago.

The other day I discovered the page has been completely overhauled with lots of new text and some really breathtaking photographs, including one of the most beautiful exterior images of Danvers I’ve ever seen. Go take a look, you won’t be disappointed. (Make sure you scroll down to the last major section of the page to see the exterior picture I’m talking about.)

Danvers State Hospital »

Colliers International has launched a website as part of their campaign to find a developer for the Fergus Falls Kirkbride: Historic Campus Opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see if Colliers is successful. I believe it’s the first time a Kirkbride has been the subject of such a large scale marketing campaign. Hopefully it’ll result in the right developer finding out about the property and saving it.

If you own a website, or even just a Facebook page, please consider spreading the word by linking to the site.

You like old photos of Kirkbride buildings, right? Dumb question? Well anyway, I’m sure you’ll love these pictures of Greystone Park from 1899 or so. Somebody recently sent me the link to the collection which is owned and presented by the Morristown Library. Some highlights below.

1. The New Jersey State Hospital
2. Walks in Front of Hospital
3. View of Male Wing
4. Administrative Building
5. Female Wing and Administrative Building
6. Main Entrance
7. Main Entrance (different than above)
8. Corridor
9. Manager’s Room
10. Pathological Laboratory
11. Medical Staff
12. Fancy Dress Ball
13. Amusement Hall
14. Training School
15. Chapel
16. Alcove in Ward
17. Ward Corridor
18. Infirmary Ward
19. Laundry
20. Main Kitchen
21. Boiler House
22. The Park
23. Distant View of Hospital

I was especially happy to see that these photos were from before the roofline was altered, and that there are a few interior spaces which look very much like they still do today.

Just thought it was worth noting that the former Fergus Falls State Hospital campus is being offered for sale on Craigslist: $1 Historic Fergus Falls State Hospital. Alhough I have a hard time believing its fair market value (as the ad states), $1 is quite a bargain. It’s too bad “a plan for development and proof of private development capital is also required.”

On Sunday April 18th, there will be a special ceremony  in honor of those buried in the four cemeteries at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It will take place in the hospital’s chapel at 2PM. Directions and further information can be found in this invitation: Bryce Hospital Cemetery Memorial Dedication Ceremony (1.52MB PDF File).

While relatives of patients, former patients, friends and hospital employees are especially invited, the event is open to the public and all are welcome. Following the ceremony and a reception, there will be a tour of Bryce’s Kirkbride building.

Related to this story is a relatively new web site: Bryce Hospital – Historic Preservation Project. It’s not quite complete, but there’s already a lot of historical data contained there and it’s worth taking a good long look through it. Also included on the site is information about volunteering for or making donations to the historical preservation project.

A few days ago, squad546 on the Asylum Projects forum told me that Independence State Hospital is now represented in Google’s Street View. I soon after went looking for other Kirkbride buildings to see if there were any other new additions since I last checked. Below are the ones I found that you can see clearly. (more…)

Is November really over? I barely noticed it go by I’ve been so busy. But it’s my least favorite month and I’m jonesing for it to be 2010 anyway, so who cares? Oh yeah: the Richardson Center snowglobes are now available for purchase. You can currently see what they look like on the Avalon Scarves home page, and buy them online from their snowglobes page. I have to say, I like my virtual BSH snowglobe better, but I suppose I’m biased.

Last week someone on the forum posted a link to a Time Magazine Story which mentioned Traverse City State Hospital. It gave me the idea to check for more stories concerning state hospitals from Time’s extensive 86 year archive. While there weren’t any amazing finds, there were a few interesting items…

Medicine in a Mad House (1934) – Tells the story of how a patient filled Danvers State Hospital‘s kitchen sugar cans with cockroach poison, killing another patient and making 13 others seriously ill.

Government Inspiration (1936) – This story about government sponsored art during the New Deal starts off with a description of a mural painted at Elgin State Hospital. I just thought it was interesting that the artists were instructed to “use only the softest shades of primary colors, to ‘avoid all exciting combinations.'”

Unhappy Anniversary (1952) – The sad story of Miss X, Topeka State Hospital’s oldest resident in 1952. She had been admitted to the hospital in 1882.

Reinforcement Therapy: Short Cut to Sanity? (1969) – Experiments in something called “Reinforcement Therapy” at Anna State Hospital in Illinois.

August has proven to be a pretty quiet month for Kirkbride buildings news. Hopefully those of you in the northern hemishpere are too busy getting in some summer fun to notice. So I’m taking this opportunity to quietly (but still shamelessly) announce that I’m going to try selling prints of my Kirkbride photos from the site. You can view the available photographs on the new prints page.

Prints are available in 8×10 and 11×14 sizes. I may make even larger prints available in the future. If there’s actually any interest in this, I’ll be adding more photos to choose from as time goes on. And if you’d like a particular photo on the site as a print and it isn’t yet listed on the prints page, please feel free to ask if I can make a print of it for you. I’ve chosen what I think are among the stronger pictures I’ve taken, but it’s always good to hear what people are really interested in.

Phil Thomas, the gentleman who brought us City on the Hill, has created a new site dedicated to another Pennsylvania asylum: Danville State Hospital. The site includes a history of the hospital, some pointers on how to get patient information and, best of all, lots of pictures—both historical and contemporary. Though the latter are great, my favorites are the old photos of the Kirkbride. I don’t think I knew that the original admin section was considerably different than it is today. It’s probably just me, but doesn’t the old admin make the building look more like an old fashioned grand hotel than an asylum?