Asylum Architecture, History, Preservation * Kirkbride Buildings

LIFE Magazine at Worcester State Hospital

Ethan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:42:10 +0000

Google and LIFE Magazine recently arranged a deal whereby LIFE’s vast photo archive will be placed online. You can find a portal to the collection here. What I really want to draw your attention to though is a handful of images taken by photographer Herbert Gehr at a mental hospital in Worchester [sic], Massachusetts in [...]

Saint Elizabeths Walking Tour

Ethan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:00:15 +0000

The DC Preservation League will be giving a special walking tour of Saint Elizabeths’s historic west campus on December 13th. This is your chance to see the Saint Elizabeths Kirkbride building up close, plus the breathtaking view of Washington DC from the hilltop the Kirkbride sits on! You may not get many more opportunities [...]

Kirkbride Desktop Wallpaper

Ethan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:03 +0000

Things have been really slow in Kirkbride news lately. While there have been some minor developments, they’re really nothing new, definite or exciting—just incremental changes in the status of a few buildings. I haven’t been creative enough lately to come up with posts in spite of that lack of activity too, so I have to [...]

The Lost Kirkbrides: Agnews State Hospital

Ethan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:52:09 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been busy and haven’t heard anything noteworthy about Kirkbride buildings or related topics in a while. But just to keep things going, here’s another installment in The Lost Kirkbrides series: Agnews State Hospital, a Kirkbride building I found out about only recently… Agnews State Hospital in Santa Clara, [...]

It’s Real

Ethan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:15:40 +0000

In case you ever doubted the legitimacy of “The Stain” inside the Athens State Hospital Kirkbride, Ohio University researcher Glen Jackson has found that it is indeed a remnant of Margaret Schilling’s decomposing body. You can read about Jackson’s findings in The Athens News: Forensics Tackles Athens Lore. As the article explains, a residue of [...]

Richardson-Olmsted Snow Globe

Ethan — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:00:53 +0000

In case you read this post and were wondering how the voting went, the Richardson-Olmsted Complex is the winning architectural landmark! With 34% of the vote, the old asylum building will be featured in this year’s snow globe. Unfortunately, it sounds like the globe won’t be available for the holidays. Read more on Buffalo Rising. [...]

Northampton Memorial Setbacks

Ethan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:30:09 +0000

An article in the Valley Advocate describes multiple problems with the creation of a Northampton State Hospital memorial: The Theft of Memory. As the article’s subtitle says, “In spite of contractual and moral obligation, there may be no memorial to the mentally ill on the prime land that was their legacy from the state.” While I [...]

OSH J Building Tours Popular but Finished

Ethan — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:30:10 +0000

The recent tours of Oregon State Hospital’s J Building proved to be very popular. However, the Statesman Journal reports that there won’t be any more of them because of demands on staff and upcoming asbestos abatement. You can read their article on the subject here: Popularity of J Building Tours Isn’t Enough to Continue Them. [...]

Google Maps Tears Down DSH!!!

Ethan — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:00:31 +0000

Of course they didn’t really tear it down, but Google Maps did replace the old aerial photograph of Danvers State Hospital (which included the full Kirkbride in all its glory) with a more recent photo showing a half built Avalon Danvers. It was always something of a comfort that even though Danvers was gone, Google [...]

On the Set of Session 9

Ethan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:30:48 +0000

Looking around on Flickr this weekend I came across this photo set: Danvers State Hospital & Session 9. The pictures were taken by Russ Fischer who apparently did some work on the set of Session 9, snapping away whenever he had a spare second or two. It’s always great to find photos from before there [...]