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Danvers State Hospital | | | Dreary Skies |  |
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Danvers State Hospital | | | Dreary Skies | |
And they call this preservation - it's a criminal act of wanton vandalism, nothing more. I can't remember the URL of the page I saw this on but I think it may be one of the Danvers preservation groups linked from the main Danvers page of Motts' site.
I can't help thinking that if we had buildings like this in England, they'd be so well-protected that the developers wouldn't be able to paint the walls a different colour without fillingout twenty forms in triplicate. That's how strict we are here about things like this. Too damn right I say.
is Danvers on the National Register of Historic Places? And if so, what weight does this carry in planning terms?
A few key points listed in the registry process are as follows:
-A listing in the National Register honors the property by recognizing its importance to its community, State, or the Nation.
-Under Federal law, private property owners can do anything they wish with their National Register-listed property, provided that no Federal license, permit, or funding is involved.
-Owners have no obligation to open their properties to the public, to restore them, or even to maintain them, if they choose not to do so.
Mainly, once a property is listed on the National Register...let's say developers come in and try to prove it is more useful to tear down a structure for housing or for infrastructure. The SHPO and occasionally FPO must do a complete report on whether it is fundamental to save the property based on the imprtance it lends to Federal or State history or not. A listing on the register requires this report be done instead of say, the government using emminant domain on the property or worse saying "Okay" to the developers.
However, with many of our nation's developers pumping money into local, state and national campaigns and given the fact that section 106 of the National Preservation Act is under attack by developers and others it is a wonder America can preserve anything at all.
There is now a campaign by developers where I live to try and buy protected National Park lands from the government for new housing developments...
...Anyway I have no idea if this answered your questions and I could go on all day about the NRHP
This particular place has stunning archetecture. It is always sad to see public property that could be a community resource wiped out forever.
Often there is just no money or will to preserve. Too bad to Massachusets has spent a gadzillion dollars on state history for oddball projects that attract the attention of politicians. For example the structurally troubled schooner Ernastina and the lighthouses on Nantuckett.
Here in Oregon a rare will developed in a private developer who has bought up dozens of these old funky sites, orphanages and poor farms with instituitional archetecture of significance. The Mcmenamins have renovated them and turned them into a very succesful entertainment empire. Their business model may have seemed bizarre at first but after 15 years it has proven to be very succesful. They renovated without changing the layouts or archetecture too much. Put in attractive landscaping and commision local artists to decorate the place often in works reflecting its history and the people who lived there.
They still have that institutional flavor. Some hotel rooms are made out of old classrooms and still have the slate blackboards and hooks for the coats.
They run the places as community resources and encourage people to come and hang out or just wander around. Each site may have 2 or 3 resteraunts, a brewpub, winery, distillery, cigar rooms, hot pool, gymnaseum for local leauge games and dances, wedding and party catering, local meeting rooms, hotel wing, and even chip and putting courses across the grounds.
Check out the Edgefield poor farm and the art work that covers every wall in the 4 story place
http://www.mcmenamins.....php?loc=3&id=55
I go to their Kennedy school all the time and soak in the hot pool. Then watch 3 dollar movies sitting on an overstuffed couch in the old auditorium while a waitress brings me micro brew beer and pizza.
These guys run their business like the Ben and Jerries of the NW and make good money at it in an industry where many go horribly banktrupt.
No one would have ever believed a private person could not only save so many of these odd derilict properties but turn them into such a valued community resource. Whatever ghosts remain of former sad and despondent residents must be completely soothed by the good vibes of the vibrant life people bring to these places now.
Oooh, it VIBRATES!!! I can think of a number of people who would like that!
I never thought I'd quote Thomas Covenant, but "It's just a building!" (tm) It isn't evil, I promise!
I live in Arizona where they tear everything down with any thought. Thank God the Inidain Ruins are on Indian Land!
If I had been able to see what it looked like on the INSIDE when I was ten.........
Holy CRAP.
Then I predict the wrecking ball will finish it off. When my son went in there he said the floors were all caved in from the third floor all the way to the basement. It was just a shell hanging on by a thread. Basically the place is waiting to fall into itself.
If the wrecking ball doesn't do the job, it just may implode into itself from heavy equipment moving around it, and that's that. But, if the developer does it right and shores up the building from the inside before removing the wings directly to each side, it should not cave in.
Time will tell lets see what happens.
To answer your other question, yes the whole hill is haunted. People were buried all the time in unmarked graves, and the graves that are marked are by a small block of granite with a number on it. Those markers are all overgrown. I hear the list of deceased owners of the numbers is lost long ago.
The hill was self-sufficient with a working farm and dairy. And you figure the first 50 years the hospital existed there was no electricity; they hat it rough. The souls of adults and children who worked and died on the farm still persist to occupy their territory.
Not to mention all the mental illness' living hell pre-medication, that the patients suffered since 1860's. In that newspaper article the developer said people will be pleased with what they see. He said it will be so much different for townspeople to look up and not see the castle, but instead cookie-cutter condo's and apartments. And the lives of all lost during the construction back when horses and cars lugged the Danversport clay brick up that hill and masons layed one brick at a time. I shutter to say how haunted it is up there.
Let's hope the spirits are not angry or those new condo owners and apartment renters will never have a good night's sleep ! Bob
a
If it is like this:
:-)
or this:
8-)
the person is happy.
If they are shocked it is:
=8-o
And if they are puking it is:
=8-P ~~~@
However, in a case like Worcester State Hospital where it's obviously abandoned and the grounds are open to the public, you may as well have enough pride in the place to keep it looking pretty. :) WSH even has flowers.
when they start showing them stand out there and tell gohst stories, hand out copies session 9, you know scare the pants off of people.
Those money hungry bastards at avalon bay aint winning this one!
Or if you have a more thought out plan feel free to share it
We live on a hill, we live on a hill
And every night, and every night
We come out, we come out
To count the cars, to count the cars.
Yaaaay Danvers!
This is obviously the height of insensitivity and political incorrectness, but decades ago, people didn't think twice about it, especially kids - who don't know any better