Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylum Architecture

I came across some images from Saint Elizabeths on this blog: Bioephemera. I’m not entirely sure they’re from inside the Kirkbride, but it’s likely they are. The patient graffiti reminds me of Egyptian hieroglyphics, but “Klee-esque wall scribblings” (as the blog author refers them) is probably a more accurate description.

These photos would have been a nice addition to the slideshow of Saint Elizabeths photos mentioned in this post.

(BTW: I searched through the archives mentioned at Bioephemera for more images from Kirkbride asylums, but didn’t find any.)

I can’t tell how old it is, but this article on the history of Saint Elizabeths on the National Museum of Civil War Medicine site is worth a look. Some of the info is pretty familiar, but this lithograph of the rear of the Kirkbride is something I’ve never seen before—and not a bad piece of work either.

It’s funny how almost every Kirkbride building has been drawn, painted, and photographed over its entire lifecycle, and that the photography done now is just a continuation of that historical record.

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.

An article in The Washington Post and another at Examiner.com describe a new report on St. Elizabeths Hospital by University Legal Services, an advocacy group for Washington D.C.’s disabled population. The report criticizes serious “deficiencies”, “dysfunction”, and “failure” on the part of the hospital staff, blaming the poor quality of care at the hospital for the deaths of eleven patients in 2007. It’s disturbing, but not too surprising given the long history of such problems at public psychiatric hospitals. That’s not to say that all treatment at psychiatric hospitals has been poor or inadequate, but it is unarguably a recurring issue. (more…)