As a 'Kirk' it's got nothing on Danvers, but it's impressive nonetheless. The burned out frontage and black holes for windows makes this one seem truly dead, with no hope of resuscitation.

Is this the admin part of the Kirkbride?

I love before-and-afters. So eerie seeing what changes and how so much remains the same.

I used to shop at ASDA (it's British subsidiary) which as far as I know soon to take on the Wal-Mart name. That was, until I found out about their buying practices and learned first-hand from a friend of mine how they treat their staff - Dickensian doesn't come close...

Soap dispensers in cars? Sounds like something from 'Pimp My Ride'!

Actually I would hazard a guess that Xibit &co. HAVEN'T tried fitting a soap dispenser to someone's ancient Chevy yet...

Thanks for that Motts... I guess it goes to show that not everything in newspapers can be relied upon.

And that there's a distinction between whether a building can be saved and the will to save it being there - and generally those with money seem loathe to repair old structures.

Perhaps the stigma of the mentally ill people who once resided here lingers on - at least in the minds of those charged with marketing any apartments carved from the shells of these immense buildings...

Sadly those of us who care about places like this tend not to win the Lottery very often :(

I think I've fallen in love with this immense ziggurat of a building (even though it's Deco and not normally my thing lol)... I'm a planning officer in the UK and I know conservation people who'd have this baby spot-listed in a heartbeat if it were this side of the pond. Whatever is done with KPPC, I hope that Building 93 forms the centrepiece. Imagine an apartment with a view like that!

I hope not! There's an empty space on my coffee table specially set aside :-)

Spok, when originally designed, these places weren't designed to be scary or to punish those within their walls. The Victorians were comitted to rehabilitation and believed that removing the mentally disturbed from the vast overcrowded cities of the era and allowing them to recuperate in attractive buildings in the countryside was the most effective means of accomplishing this. Hence the sprawling, wooded grounds and incredible architecture of the 19th and early 20th century buildings.

Psychiatry was in its infancy and the emphasis was very much on 'reform' - contrast any Kirkbride with a prison of the same era, the architecture of which undeniably suggests punishment and brutality (and deterrence!) It was only later that the asylums became overcrowded through lack of funds and changing attitudes towards the mentally ill.

But bear in mind these places were built not to punish but with the intention of helping people get better - based on the limited knowledge of the time. Keep that in mind and suddenly beautiful Gothic spires and stained glass windows don't look at all out of place.

I relatively little of asylums and institutional care methods (perhaps Lynne or Anna can fill in the gaps!) but the Victorian and Edwardian periods are something of an interest of mine.

Why haven't those been removed and stored away safely somewhere? Apart from anything else, they must be worth a few bob! I can imagine so many imbeciles wetting themselves with excitement at the prospect of destroying them with a well-praced rock :(

Is this part of the Kirkbride building or the 1900s part (I ask because that stained glass is almost Art Nouveau in design...)

Puddleboy, do you write from personal experience or are your sleuthing skills just second-to-none?

But yeah, I'm definitely with Lynne either way :-)

According to the newspaper link on the KPPC front page, this building is doomed whatever happens. It's developed a serious list and is pulling away from parts of the lower levels. Pieces of masonry have begun to fall from the upper storeys.

I'd imagine it would take some serious underpinning to stabilise Bldg 93, which considering that no-one's prepared to fund the abatement process looks somewhat unlikely. I wonder if gravity, rather than a wrecking ball, will bring this place down in the end? It's a tragedy that such a fate can be allowed to befall something this massive and imposing.

I think if you performed ECT live on stage at Christmas, in Byberry, it would be to a full house of the 'OMG thats soooo KEWL' type of people who frequent opacity.us....

Maybe some audience participation would go down well.... zzzzzzap!

"A surprise in every one..."

Heheh Lynne they're her corpses... I tell her to keep her basement a little tidier but will she listen to me?

:-D

Funny how the holes are symmetrical - one either side of the doorway gable.

Moe, it's sad but this does happen. I've seen pictures of the Pines Resort on another site which show the heating system with full pressure still in it.

And as with the Pines, I wonder if a little time and effort spent on roof maintenance would have prevented millions of dollars worth of water damage in subsequent years as well as leaving far more options for the buildin's re-use.

How much would a couple of tarpaulins or sheets of corrugated aluminium for that damaged roof have cost, for instance?

This reminds me of the pictures of those shafts of light coming in through the roof of the ruined Superdome in NOLA following Katrina.

It looks like the beam of a spotlight - take a bow...

I for one am glad people like Lynne and Anna are here to educate those who see anything vaguely institutional as some sort of medieval torture chamber staffed by grinning sadists.

Popular culture has done much to tarnish the reputation of the entire field - this is as good a place as any for those who know different to bite back...

I suspect that many over-active imaginations have been given a sharp reality check following a visit to this site!

You're lucky. I can smell a rotting corpse a mile off. And if there's one thing that seriously freaks me out, it's something dead. Not a clean skeleton - those are interesting rather than scary but something half rotted makes me recoil if I come across it in the woods or whatever.

Another reason I'd make a lousy UE-er....

Remember - it's the thought that counts... lol!

Heheh bdhsnake I shouldn't say 'ECT' around here too loud if I were you - people have imaginations y'know...

Oh wait, you meant 'et cetera' - something completely different - lol!

No way out...

What constituted "extreme precautions" I wonder? Mace? Body armour? A platoon? :-/

You're not alone, I haven't seen Session 9 either!

I remember One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest though... nasty stuff, and probably the origin of much of the continuing interest in psychiatric facilities.

Remember... it's Hollywood!