Rules for Submission

Working on a project to symbolize my love for architecture, Kirkbrides, history, and aesthetics. I got my hands on some fallen paint chips and got Lowes to match me up a can of brand new Institutional Green. Went with eggshell so it's easier to clean up. I'll update down the road when it's finished, but I'm not divulging any more details until then.

I am writing a horror/thriller story/video game plot that involves an abandoned Kirkbride as the main setting. I cannot find anything about what the square footage of these massive buildings is/was.

Does anyone have any info on any Kirkbride square footage? I don’t need anything exact but just something in general for your “average” Kirkbride blueprint.

Thanks so much in advance!

Hello all! A couple of months ago I started posting here to share my book about my travels to Kirkbride hospitals around the country. It's been more than seven years at this point and while I've still only visited about 10 Kirkbride hospitals, I'm still hitting the road and going strong.

Anyway, my second chapter is about how psychiatric hospitals went from being bastions of care to fodder for local legends.

You can read it at Substack, and Chapter 1 is available if you want to start from the beginning. I hope someone out here enjoys it. Find it at kirkbridetourguide.com or kirkbridetourguide.substack.com .

The Ridges, formerly Athens Lunatic Asylum

Explore an old asylum legally

Formerly the Buffalo State asylum, the Richardson Olmstead complex is an amazing example of good adaptive reuse. The building sat and rotted for many years, but the central admin building currently runs as a successful hotel, the Richardson hotel. The left and right wings of this Kirkbride Are slated to be repurposed into apartments.

I am a photographer, urban Explorer, preservationist, and I guess when you come down to it, a little bit of a crazy old Cat Lady, and my nonprofit, PreservationWorks, is running two 4 hour photography tours of the still vacant wings before they are redeveloped. We will be chaperoning small groups through the buildings in a way that gives you plenty of time and space most of our guides are photographers as well. The tour is on October 26 in Buffalo, New York. It’s possible that this is the last chance to see some of these spaces.

You can learn more here:

https://www.thepreservationworks.org/buffalo-tour-2024-autumn/

Hi everyone,

We’re running two sessions of our special 4 hour photography tour of Buffalo State Hospital. This may be the last opportunity to see some of these spaces. Check out the details here:

https://facebook.com/events/s/preservationworks-fundraiser-b/942837677882471/

And to learn more about PreservationWorks, a 501c3 dedicated to preserving and providing education on Kirkbride Buildings, go to www.thepreservationworks.org

https://preview.redd.it/lc9iy3nn91jd1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9726902e6bc45fd5684dee42bcb58e2351419db

Hello, r/Asylums!

Since 2017 I've been crisscrossing the U.S. visiting historic mental hospitals, specifically Kirkbride buildings, with the hope of writing an account of these places, their architecture, and their positions in our collective consciousness.

I wrote this book as a document of those travels. The book is not finished and I have many places I'd still like to go, but I'm publishing each chapter serially online. I hope you'll give my first chapter a read if you're interested.

Anyway, the entire thing is absolutely free, so please feel free to share, recommend, whatever.

In Search of Asylum: A Road Trip Through the History of Mental Health Care

Apologies if this is not allowed on this sub but I'm looking for a wiki site about Asylum's. I've visited before and it has a history of different Asylums throughout the US. It is not on Wikipedia but it's own Wiki - sorry I've had no luck on google 🙂

I invite you to watch this 50-minute documentary, which covers the past, present, architecture, and future of this now shuttered institution. It was the first publically funded institution for people with developmental disabilities in the nation, and acted as a poster child for thousands of others. Unfortunately, as I discuss in the documentary, the city who owns the land on which the buildings sit (Waltham) has neglected to meet the preservation commitments they made a decade ago, and has allowed the historic property to rot. With its future unknown, I took it upon myself to tell the institution's story, and discuss the impressive architecture of these threatened buildings.

https://youtu.be/7nxllo31Aug

I don’t know if anyone in this community is interested in historic preservation, but we are running an event June 1st at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo (literally footsteps away from the reused Buffalo State Hospital, a Kirkbride building) featuring members of PreservationWorks and some special guests, talking about our collective and individual experiences with preservation. The event is free but requires registration. We hope to see you there!

Here’s the registration link:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6301969

First off, I grew up Baptist so I don’t even know how Catholic Churches work. Secondly, I am very interested in mental health and disorders, this will aid in my happiness.

I was looking for a shower curtain with an abandoned aesthetic to it. Found some shipwrecks and other stuff. Then I found this. It was billed as "abandoned opera house." I thought it looked familiar and it was. If you're in the know, then you know this one. It's the Grand Staircase from Greystone. Pretty much an immediate purchase.

Hello everyone. I’m super interested in institutions and their history. I’m trying to compile a master list of: insane asylums, state hospitals, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, sanatoriums, hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, state schools, orphanages, jails/penitentiaries/prisons, and other government institutions in history. I have a Google spread sheet where I’m keep track of my list. If you would like to help add to the list i would greatly appreciate it. Please comment and let me know and I’ll send you the link along how the sheets basically works.