Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

Please help the Athens County Historical Society and Museum save the Athens Kirkbride by signing this online petition.

Ohio University (current owner of the former Athens State Hospital site now known as The Ridges) is set to tear down an historic building at the site next month. Read more about it here: Ridges TB Ward to Be Razed Next Month Despite Historical Society Efforts to Save It. Although the structure being demolished isn’t the Kirkbride, the article also mentions the university’s plans to tear down most of the Kirkbride building’s wings in the future. See this diagram for what will be destroyed: Plans for The Ridges.

The Athens County Historical Society and Museum is trying to get the school to preserve the remaining buildings at The Ridges, including the Kirkbride. To help them, please sign the online petition. Also please consider contacting the university’s president and board of trustees directly.

Sign the Petition

Restore and Maintain Athens Asylum Buildings for Posterity »

Contact the President and Board of Trustees

Ohio University Office of President (contact info at bottom of page)

Ohio University  Board of Trustees (contact info at bottom of page)

To celebrate National Preservation Month (this year’s theme is “Celebrating America’s Treasures”), there will be a meeting at the M State campus in Fergus Falls on Tuesday, May 24th. It starts at 6:00 PM in Legacy Hall. The event is sponsored by The Fergus Falls Heritage Preservation Commission and Friends of the Kirkbride. It is free and open to the public.

Part of the meeting will be devoted to the importance of saving and restoring historic buildings in general, and what others have done to restore and reuse historic structures. There will also be some discussion of the Fergus Falls Kirkbride building‘s historic significance. Among the scheduled speakers is Ray Minervini, the man who breathed new life into the Kirkbride building in Traverse City, Michigan.

Also worth noting is that the city of Fergus Falls has proposed a phased demolition of the former RTC property. Under the plan some newer additions to the main building, as well as some older separate structures, and the tunnels beneath the Kirkbride could be demolished as early as Summer 2012. The areas in question are marked in bright yellow in the image above. The city has also proposed breaking the property into smaller pieces so that developers interested in reusing only a portion of the Kirkbride (a single wing for example) may make proposals to do so. According to an article in the Fergus Falls Journal, “Parts of the Kirkbride that were not picked up by developers could tentatively then be torn down late in the 2012 construction season and into 2013.” Read the article here: City Gives Kirkbride One Last Chance.

Just a few days ago the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s magazine Preservation published an article focused on Broughton State Hospital: Mind Over Matter: How Historic Asylums Are Faring. North Carolina is planning to build a new $138 million building for the hospital. A few of the older buildings will be demolished, while the Kirkbride there — also known as the Avery Building — will be left empty. Preservationists are worried that neglect of the structure will lead to its ultimate demise. I’d say their fears are well founded given the history of abandoned Kirkbrides.

Note that clicking on the photos accompanying the article takes you to larger versions. Although most of the photos aren’t of the Kirkbride, they’re still worth a peek. I particularly like the old greenhouse.

The Greystone Park Kirkbride building‘s future just got a little brighter. A special task force charged with developing a preservation plan for the building was just established by a bill that passed New Jersey’s state senate by a vote of 38 to 0 yesterday! The bill was sponsored by New Jersey state senator Bill Codey. The eleven member task force will be comprised of state employees and politicians, plus five members of the general public including “a former patient or family member of a former patient at the original Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.” The task force will submit their plan within six months after their first meeting. Read more: Codey Measure to Preserve Greystone Park Approved.

This doesn’t mean preservation is guaranteed for the building, but it makes it much more likely. I’m especially pleased to see the unanimous vote which indicates there’s a lot of support for saving this historic structure. Hopefully within a year (or even less) the task force will have created a solid preservation plan and Greystone’s outlook will look even better.

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.

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…)

On Tuesday there was a public meeting concerning efforts to preserve the Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride. At the meeting, the Richardson Center Corporation revealed their Historic Structures Report (available for download on their documents page). The report is a beautifully comprehensive collection of history and images of the hospital buildings, and you should definitely check it out.

I haven’t digested the whole report yet, but the part I find most interesting so far is the description of the hospital’s construction, development and eventual downsizing which begins on page 62. Included are maps of the hospital campus during different time periods, as well as photos of the buildings from over the years. Especially striking is an old photo from about 1880 of the unfinished Kirkbride (page 70). (more…)

Bryce Hospital’s chances for becoming a national historic landmark are looking much better. The University of Alabama has agreed that national landmark status won’t hinder their future plans for the hospital buildings. An application for a federal historical designation will be made, and I think it’s likely that the application will be approved. As noted here a couple weeks ago, national landmark status would do much to help the Bryce Kirkbride be preserved, so this is great news.

Someone familiar with the hospital’s history pointed out to me recently that the Kirkbride at Bryce is most likely the oldest intact Kirkbride building in existence today. In addition, Dr. Kirkbride himself stated that this particular building was the most exact embodiment of his original principles of hospital design. Those two facts alone make the building worth preserving, not to mention it’s long history as a part of Alabama and the nation.

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…)

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…)