Graffiti Room

I wish people would have a little more respect for these places.

Love the blocked-up fireplace. Helps show the age of the place.

I'd love to take one of those spray paint cans and-------

Nancy, I'll hold them down for ya ;)

Guys, honestly is it really that serious that someone went in there with spraypaint? If anything it adds to the history the place holds in its walls. Maybe the kids whodunnit didn't have art in mind exactly but I actually find something positive in this picture.

i dont think people think it is that serious, its more of a lack of respect of property that does not belong to these vandals.as well as a increase in security. it is just a quility of life issue.

kind of like people who litter when there is a barrel 10 feet away.

The issue isn't graffiti, the issue is preservation: preserving the history as it was. Looking at pics of the VTech Steam Tunnels, there's great history in the graffiti from decades ago--it added context to the exploration. However, context is key: graffiti by patients would be interesting, but graffiti by asshats would be intrusive.

well put.

who gives a shit it's just a old broken down building , kids got nothing else to do. i dont see anyone putting any money up to fix it. it will be demolished anyway. doesn't matter who trashes it.

no respect for history what a shame

you know it's pretty sad people don't care anymore about history or therefor no respect. Someone that once worked here or lived here could come on here and see this, this place might have meant something special to someone. I feel its just wrong to vandalize these buildings, but I guess that is my opinion.

i agree with you 100% squirrelie. everyone has a place that is special to them. kids just don't have that yet, one day they will. then maybe they'll regret what they did.

Hey, don't lump all kids in one generalisation. I don't qualify as a kid any more but when I was 16 I wouldn't of dreamed of doing something so disrespectful. I love old buildings like this. Thanks for the great photos Mr Motts! They're a way of keeping these places alive once they are finally gone and you've really got a unique perspective.

The graffiti may actually help to preserve the paint underneath it, by serving as an extra layer of paint. I suspect that the NYC subway trains lasted a little longer when the subways were in the doldrums than they otherwise would have - because graffiti vandals were the principal folks doing the painting.

By that I meant that the painters who usually paint weren't doing their job, so the subway cars and their paint would have crumbled more than they did, had it not been for the spraypaint.

such a shame that beautiful fireplace was vandalized! I'll bet it was gorgous in its heyday.

Again??? Why do people do this?

pffff... why does people do this? I love graffity, sure, but this ones are so horrible. And otherways, abandoned places should rest as they have been left.
No painting, no stealing, no vandalism...

Underground from Spain says - Nice webside yours :D

Graffiti always makes me wonder why such people have such a screaming need to make their presence known to all who come after. What deeply-rooted insecurity makes it impossible for them to pass through a place without making their mark? Why is it so necessary to be noticed?

gosh james,yo dont have to be a total ass about it,history creeps through these walls,so many things happened herre,so many tortured souls,and all you can say is,it needs to be domolished,what a shame.

every whos bugging out about a little graffiti need to relize that graffiti is an art form not a crime if anything that building needs some more graffiti

Graffiti cna be cool if its not done in a dumb-ass way like most people do it

damm teen have nothing better to do

James..........what are you doing on this site if you don't appreciate abandoned buildings? Go post some negative comments somewhere else.
This is 'dunbass' grafitti. Horrible

sorry, duMbass!

please excuse my spelling,
this place was a psych ward many years ago its very old i would not believe this building was special to anyone excpect for the people who recieved thier paychecks for the time they spent there. sure some people might have wanted help but alot were there against there own will. and the horrible procedures that occured on patients such as lobotomies where there would drill through there skulls or go through the eye socket to sever brain tissues and kill, people electroshock therepy, and neurosurgery where they messed around with the spinal cords and signals your body natural sends up and down ur body. this place opened 1885 people were'nt treated the best. so whats so disrespectfull about a little spraypaint graffitti or ART. most of you are ignorant ---holes that just open ur f--king mouths. and let sh-t spue out

haha. how can you have "lack of respect" for an inanimate object, i agree, it hink it deff adds its own continuation of the history of the building, its like a timeline. i understand there are "emotional ties" but let it be, thats how an artist lets it out, and leaves a mark, lets the world know they were there, just like the people who left that building behind did when they jumped ship and locked it up. anyone who makes it through that building. deserves to leave their mark. ART FOR ARTS SAKE!

Every mental hospital should have one of these... Art is a great way of getting your feelings out

History is only something preserved in an isolated state when it is in a book. The history of a place is something that changes and builds with time. The people who painting on these walls were adding to it's living history. They show that in the time that the building remained vacant it was not void of use. It changed in the role it played in its setting. If not in a vacant building than where on this earth is one expected to have the freedom to express themselves when we all find it so necessary to privatize everything. Also to say that work done by youth is therefore uninspired and ill informed is vary ageist. With that attitude it is no wonder so many young people need to find vacant buildings to paint in.

Not all graffiti artists are vandals, and not all vandals are graffiti artists. It is more complex than you make it seem, and has a unique meaning to each person putting up their name. While I can't defend or condone the distasteful and unskillful graf in this particular shot and some others from here, the essence of graffiti is expression and art. It does add history just in a different way. The history of this place as an Asylum is long over. This is just another era.