Thank you Motts for opening up a side of life to us that we have only heard 'whispers' about. You are a true artist in every respect!

Pillow Sterilization maybe since they don't seem long enough for mattresses?

What is that white roll?
Bandages, paper or TP?

-am creeped out by the close proximity of the other person's bed-
This does not lend any medicinal assistance for claustophobia does it? It would actually MAKE me "climb the walls" so to speak....

Could you imagine experiencing the throes of dementia in an impersonal room with a stranger in the next bed?

Motts?
Did you happen to notice what the bedding was made out of?
Feathers, etc?
Just wondering.

Max,
It is good to know that I wasn't the only one who mistook them at first for barbaric barbed wire cages!
Thanks! *S*

This way the 'hard to handle' patients were able to enjoy their own version of the Solarium! That they cared enough to provide this room proves that they weren't completely heartless in the manufacturing of this facility!

My old grade school had these kind of windows prior to renovating. They were 'kid friendly" the teachers said. This way they could open the top panes for air (The opened useing long wooden poles with metal hooks on the end to trip the latches) and not worry about children falling out of them.
This must be the same reason why they are here.

These doors have such an inpersonal, forlorn, and depressed look/feel to them. Could you imagine the sound of one of them clanking shut?

I know buildings can decay fast when made of sub-standard building materials. Yet I can't help but wonder if due to budget cuts and lack of funding, if these poor souls had to live in a bit of decay.

What appalls me most about this room is the lack of privacy! Sometimes stalls are not enough for me, can you imagine somone sitting there right next to you sharing the TP?
Motts?
Is that an Industrial Utility tub I spot lurking off to the right?

The size of the room and the positioning of the overhead lights lends to the idea that maybe there were rows of beds in here for multiple patients?

This room does give more of a sense of privacy then the open mesh walls of prior rooms. The way the paint is 'bubbling' reminds me of the Lead based paint of the 30's. My parents house was wall to wall with the stuff. It was that (personal opinion here) awful green as in this place. It was very durable but 'bubbled' rather than peeled.

Is not that 'observation window' a bit high? You would have to be very tall to be able to access it.

(steps up on soapbox)
Why do we tear these places down and corral the lambs out onto the streets? Is it so that they will be consumed by the wolves? Out of sight, out of mind? It seems to me that they are tearing these buildings down in an effort to say "Inhumane treatment of humans? Where? You cant prove it!"
Do they not realize that if the cover the mistakes of the past, that we are bound and destined only to *shudders* relive them?

It still lends to the fact of a confined patient. The room is so small, that if you place equipment in here, the staff would not be able to get around with a loose patient. There appears to be a door in the wall at the head of the bed. To keep medical supplies? or a Closet for the patient's belongings? hmmmm.....

That large contraption seen above the light, is that a heating duct of some sort?

The hanging lamp gives me the idea of maybe these rooms for the ones that had to be heavily medicated and maybe secured to the iron railings of the beds. That would explain the fact that there isn't a safe way to feed these patients if they were strapped down, in strait jackets maybe and on I.V.'s

If these rooms were to store the 'patients' that were extremely violent, why is there not a slot to slide food into? How did they feed them? If opening the doors subjected the Staff to injury. Unless these were a kind of Solitary Confinement?

After the cool 'institutionalized' (pardon the unmeant pun) of the Administration Bldg, this one looks like it was thrown together in a hurry!

Motts,
It looks alot like those turn-of-the-century fireplaces that wanted to give the appearance of a woodburning fireplace yet had gas offices for those plastic log things. (sorry about the run-on sentence) Did you happen to see any Gas attachments? Also in the upper right hand corner of the wall, the circle caught my attention. Maybe one of those rounded pictures of the founder hung there? Or the current Governor's Picture in a rounded frame?

The marble staircase reminds me of alot of old Theatres around the Milwaukee area. Unfortunately they have torn down most of them.
*Why do men progress only at the cost of history?*

David... is that where the term 'SafeSex' came from? :-)~

Maybe a 'waiting area' as the visitors came to see patients? Just a thought....

Could that possibly be a water spot high on the wall? Maybe the roof leaks? It would be a shame to see this place razed. The beautiful entrance, windows and marblework, would make a better Hotel. That way it could be put to a happier use.. since we can already guess the sadness these walls have witnessed!