February 8th, 2010
Kirkbride connoisseur Ian Ference has put another notch in his found-a-kirkbride-building-no-one-knew-about belt. What’s especially exciting is that, just like the last lost Kirkbride he discovered, this Kirkbride was located in New York City — in Brooklyn to be exact. Brooklyn State Hospital was created to serve the Kings County region of New York. I’m not 100% sure of this, but other names for the hospital include Flatbush Insane Asylum, Kings County Lunatic Asylum and Long Island State Hospital. It’s now known as Kingsboro Psychiatric Center. It was originally a county hospital, but the state took it over in 1895. (more…)
December 11th, 2009
A short while ago, asylum aficionado Ian Ference clued me in on a Kirkbride building I was unaware of. Surprisingly, the slightly modified Kirkbride plan building pictured above was located in Manhattan! Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of images of the building online. The best I’ve seen so far are located here: aerial photos (look near the curve of the bridge) — although those sadly don’t reveal the entire building.
Founded in 1863, the hospital was originally called the New York City Asylum for the Insane and stood on Ward’s Island as part of a larger hospital complex predominantly serving newly arrived immigrants. When the State Department of Mental Hygiene took over its administration in 1899, it became Manhattan State Hospital. When exactly the Kirkbride was built I don’t yet know. However, Mr Ference has confirmed that the building no longer stands.
