Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

Bryce Hospital has been in the news a bit this March. As mentioned in a previous post, the Bryce campus is likely to be sold to the University of Alabama. If the sale comes to pass, the hospital will move to another location, and the Kirkbride building will become the school’s property. One reader pointed out to me that the university president, Robert Witt, says the historic building will be left standing.

“UA does not have a plan for developing the Bryce property if it were to become part of the university, but Witt said any buildings on the National Historical Registry would be preserved.” (Tuscaloosa News, UA Hires Consultant to Work on Bryce Project) (more…)

Here’s a little update on the Fergus Falls Kirkbride building. Fergus Falls city politicians are asking the state government to exempt the former RTC campus from state property taxes. According to an article in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal (”RTC on Capitol Agenda“), the Fergus Falls mayor and a city council member were scheduled to present the request to the state this morning. It seems like only a small, sort of auxillary step towards preservation, but every little bit helps.

I haven’t heard anything lately about the proposed Chinese language and business studies college at Fergus Falls. I don’t know if that’s still a possibility for reuse of the Kirkbride or not. If anybody in the Fergus Falls area knows, please comment or send me an email. Thanks.

Not too surprisingly there’s some noise being made over the recent rechristening of Weston State Hospital as the “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum”. The latter is of course the institution’s original name, and is definitely more attention grabbing than the less archaic “Weston State Hospital”. No doubt the new owners changed it to help market the place as a tourist destination. (more…)

A New Jersey state commission has approved the auction of surplus land and buildings located on what will soon be the former Greystone Park Psychiatric Center. That includes the Kirkbride. As it stands now, the building will be sold to the highest bidder. The auction could take place as soon as this spring according to an article in The Star-Ledger. (more…)

I’ve been trying to add to the list of Kirkbride buildings and remembered a couple asylums mentioned in America’s Care of the Mentally Ill. In the book, there’s a nice bird’s eye view of an asylum called Saint Vincent’s in Saint Louis, Missouri. After a little searching I was able to find the address and confirm that it was a Kirkbride. In the aerial photo above, you can see the building still stands. It’s been converted to a residential complex called Castle Park Apartments and will probably be around for a good long time. That was a nice surprise. It’s hard to believe there aren’t any other photos of this castle-like Kirkbride online. It’s pretty impressive, if a little over the top in style. (more…)

There was an interesting development reported yesterday concerning the former Hudson River Psychiatric campus. According to the Poughkeepsie News, three Hudson Heritage partners sold their shares of the property to the remaining partner who plans to continue redevelopment. There’s a more extensive article on the story available today: 3 Sell Psych Center Property Share. (more…)

There’s an article in The Buffalo News about repairs getting underway at the former Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride. Stabilization, roof repair, electricity and added security seem to be the priorities. There’s no surprising information here if you’ve been keeping up with the story, but the photos accompanying the article are a nice surprise. They show work being done on one of the outlying brick wards—the part of the building least likely to be saved. While it doesn’t mean anything for certain, it makes me hopeful that preservation of the brick wards is at least a possibility.

Note: Some time after this post was published, The Buffalo News archived the article mentioned and it is no longer available without a membership to their web site. The article can still be read here, although the pictures aren’t included.

For those of you in the Buffalo, New York area, there’s going to be a public meeting regarding the Richardson Olmstead Complex on Wednesday, April 16th. The meeting will be at 6PM at the Buffalo and Eerie County Historical Society, 25 Nottingham Court, in Buffalo. That’s about two months away, but mark your calendars… (more…)

The abandoned west campus at Saint Elizabeths is in the news again: Chertoff Revives Bid for New CG HQ, and GSA Seeks Funding Boost for DHS Headquarters Project.

Nothing too exciting, but it gives me an excuse to mention an article I came across recently: What’s Inside Box No. 1997.0015 OHA 293.23? It’s a little old, but if you haven’t read it, it’s worth taking a look at—especially for this amazing slideshow.

My wife and I recently looked at an apartment in what used to be the Danvers Kirkbride. We originally thought we were going to be looking at a condo, but it turns out Avalon only rents the Kirkbride living spaces.

We were shown a model apartment on the first floor of the admin. It was actually reasonably nice for an apartment. The rooms were bright (because of those big Kirkbride windows). The kitchen had the essential granite counter tops, and a seemingly impossible amount of cabinet space. There were also two huge bathrooms you could dance the Tango in. While not exceptional, the construction didn’t seem particularly cheap either. We were told the apartments in what’s left of the Kirkbride are of a higher quality than the ones in the new buildings. (more, including interior photos…)