Image copyright 1992 Roger Farrington. Courtesy of panopticongallery.com. Used with permission.
In case you missed it on the Danvers State Hospital Facebook page, there’s a small collection of photos of the hospital from 1992 by Roger Farrington available here: Panopticon Gallery: Roger Farrington. Roger Farrington is a professional photographer who was hired by the state to document the closing of the hospital. The photos available at the Panopticon Gallery site are from very soon after the hospital was vacated for good in 1992. Check them out. You won’t be disappointed.
Christian VanAntwerpen had an idea recently to photograph “every inch” of the Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Kirkbride for posterity, and is now working to make his idea a reality. Christian has gathered a group of about forty photographers and cinematographers who plan to photograph the entire building together this year. The end result will be an interactive website that’ll allow anybody anywhere in the world to explore every corner of the Fergus Falls Kirk.
Such an ambitious project will undoubtedly cost a bit of money, so the group set up a Fundrazr page to help offset the cost. Please take a few minutes to check it out and consider making a donation: Help Us Completely Photograph the Fergus Falls RTC »
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.
A friend of mine recently posted photos from a Soundgarden show on Instagram. She was excited to see photos of the Hudson River State Hospital Kirkbride appear on the screen behind the band while they played their new song Been Away Too Long. It turns out the building also makes a cameo in the song’s video. See above. Note that only exterior images of the Kirkbride appear. The interior scenes take place within a completely different building, probably not even on the former Hudson River State Hospital campus.
I like the fact that the Kirkbride’s being exposed to a lot of people who probably don’t already know about it. It’s too bad it’s in such a ruinous state, but I suppose that fits the theme of the video, so it probably wouldn’t have happened any other way.
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.
The New York Times published an article Tuesday about John Archer’s eclectic house in Danvers, Massachusetts: Scrap Mansion. For those who don’t know, John Archer probably did more than anyone to try keeping the Danvers State Hospital Kirkbride intact. Though his mission to preserve the entire Kirkbride wasn’t ultimately successful, Mr. Archer was able to salvage several reasonably large pieces of what was torn down and have them incorporated into a new wing on his home.
The slideshow accompanying the article includes a few photos featuring the “Danvers Room”—both interior and exterior. The exterior isn’t to my taste really, but it’s not bad considering the Kirkbride’s Gothic style doesn’t blend well with the rest of the house. I like the interior a lot though. You might notice a few familiar looking doors here and there. I’m not sure what else came from the Kirkbride, but there are probably a few other items not shown.
It’s good to know somebody who loved the building so much was able to incorporate pieces of the Kirkbride into their home. I’m sure those bits and pieces will be lovingly looked after.
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.
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.
In honor of the 203rd anniversary of Thomas Story Kirkbride’s birthday, I think everybody should take a look at Duffy’s Kirkbrides HD video project. There are lots of good Kirkbride building photographs online these days, but good videos are a bit more rare. That’s why it’s especially nice to see Duffy’s tasteful video project available on Vimeo. The project is the result of countless road trips and flights taken over the course of three years, plus many many hours lovingly sorting through and editing over 600 gigabytes of video. Watching this beautiful footage really makes me wish I had considered video over still images when I first started visiting Kirkbrides.
Still photography is great and there’s really no substitute for it, but video takes things to a different level. It’s great for showing movement through a Kirkbride’s space, and how light plays across a building’s facade as the day passes. Check out the Hudson River video at 0:40 for a fantastic example of the latter. It’s also breathtaking when Duffy leaves the camera trained on a Kirkbride and speeds up time so you can watch clouds passing over the majestic building. Take a look at the Buffalo video at 0:23, and the Weston video at 0:23 to see it for yourself.
Kirkbrides HD is one of the most comprehensive video series of its type, and is a great addition to the documentary preservation of these historic buildings. Take a look when you’ve got forty-five minutes or so to spare. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed: Kirkbrides HD.
A flash mob is being planned for 11am this Saturday, July 14th at the Fergus Falls Kirkbride. Hug the Kirkbride will involve a human chain linking arms around the entire building. A video of the event will be distributed online with the hopes of garnering national attention for the threatened Kirkbride.
If you live within reasonable driving distance of Fergus Falls — or if you can afford to spend the time and money to make a longer trip — please attend and participate! They’re going to need A LOT of people to completely surround such a huge structure.
After the flash mob event, “mini tours” of the building will be given between noon and 4:00PM. For more information, check out the Facebook event page: Hug the Kirkbride. And don’t forget to join the Friends of the Kirkbride Facebook group if you haven’t already.
Check out this news item on the former Saint Vincent’s hospital: Civil War Insane Asylum Turned into Affordable Housing. They muddle the hospital’s history a little—although the asylum was founded in 1858, shortly before the Civil War, the Kirkbide was built between 1873 and 1891, well after the Civil War ended in 1865.
It’s great to see the building put to good use. It’ll probably be around for years to come. One can’t help but wonder why it can happen in Missouri, but not in other states. I’m sure it’s relatively modest size and location in a densely populated area both help.
