Long neglected, many of the nation's early mental institutions are finding new uses.

Story by Laura Lewis / Sept. 12, 2001

 Printer-friendly version

Historic postcard of Traverse City, Mich., state hospital.

In 1947, after a seven-month stay in California's Camarillo State Hospital for a nervous breakdown, jazz great Charlie Parker wrote "Relaxin' at Camarillo." Forty years later, the facility, with its Spanish-style buildings nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains in Ventura County, closed after budget cutbacks.

A year after that, in October of 1998, California State University lobbied the state and acquired the property to build its Channel Islands campus.

"It's a spectacular setting. It turned out to be a much cheaper fix in terms of starting a new campus," says George Dutra, the university's director of facilities, development, and operations. In 1999, the school won the California Preservation Award for its reuse and conservation of Camarillo State Hospital.

Hundreds of castle-like buildings were built in the United States to house the mentally ill between the 18th and 20th centuries. Budget cuts and new methods of caring for the mentally ill have left many of the institutions abandoned or demolished. Lingering in limbo, some facilities are rotting away from neglect as states try to determine the future of these architectural treasures.

"There's a majesty to them," says Chris Miller, a computer programmer from Michigan who is interested in saving abandoned asylums. "There's a level of craftsmanship that has gone into them."

Enchanted with the towers, courtyards, and meandering pathways at those sites, Miller launched a Web site, historicasylums.com, in an effort to compile information and images on America's state mental institutions. His site chronicles asylums designed by Thomas Story Kirkbride, who served as superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia from 1841-1883.

Kirkbride's plan structured the buildings en èchelons, designing a large building at the center with wings extending from the sides. Kirkbride emphasized the use of sunlight, adequate ventilation, and a limited number of patients—never more than 250. His philosophy asserted that nature and beauty were therapy.

"He was trying to find the best architecture for the mentally ill," said Anna Schuleit of Boston, Mass., another advocate for the preservation of state asylums. She stumbled across the elaborate craft of asylums while strolling on the grounds of a closed hospital in Massachusetts. The last patients left the Northampton State Hospital, one of the oldest Kirkbride institutions, in 1993, as part of a plan to transfer mentally ill patients to private care. A professional artist, Schuleit wants to memorialize the building before it is torn down or renovated. "We need to mark the building's passing before it's gone. Once it's gone, everyone will say ‘My God, we should have saved it.'"

Northampton State Hospital (historicasylums.com)

So last November, she organized a tribute to the hospital. About 1,000 people participated in the event, including former patients, who returned to share stories about life inside the asylum. The day concluded with a walk around the grounds as J.S. Bach's "Magnificat" resonated from hundreds of speakers in the area. Since the event, Massachusetts residents have banded together to prevent the state from transferring ownership of the facility to a private development company.

Miller and Schuleit are now combining their interest in preserving the relics. For over a year, they have compiled information on the status and history of asylums for an online national list. "There's no national survey. Not even a census," Schuleit said.

Though their research is not complete, they estimate that 250 state hospitals were built between the mid-1700s and early 1900s, not including private hospitals or community mental health centers. Of the 250, 169 are still in operation, yet not as asylums, and about 70 sites are either lying idle, are being redeveloped, or have been demolished.

Several asylums have been renovated as parks, prisons, art museums, and schools. One, the Traverse City State Hospital in Traverse City, Mich., the last of four facilities still in the state, may be the next to be reused.

The hospital closed in 1989, and the state appointed a committee to determine the future use of the water-damaged building. "They talked about tearing it down because it was structurally unsafe," said developer Ray Minervini.

As Minervini studied the structure, he became enamoured with the architecture. "I formed a bond with the building because it was built by the state at a time when buildings were meant to last."

His development company proposed creating a village-like environment on the hospital premises. "It's a matter of a building learning to become another sort of building," says Minervini. His plan includes reconstructing the first floor for businesses like coffee shops, wine bars, and delis and converting the second and third floors into housing ranging from efficiencies to luxury apartments.

"We're not looking to create a retirement community or a yuppie village. We want to create a place for a cross-section of people," he says. The Minervini Group will probably acquire the property from the committee within the next nine months and is already negotiating with commercial and private tenants to rent the space.

A town protects its hospital

This summer, the town of Sykesville, Md., acquired a portion of the land and buildings that housed their local hospital. At one time, Springfield Hospital Center, now known as the Warfield Complex Development Project, provided many jobs for the people of Sykesville.

"Springfield Hospital and the town grew up together. The hospital provided employment to the town, and the town provided services for the hospital," said town manager Matt Candland. "There's really some promising architecture: colonial revival, slate roofs, marble and granite stairs, and cupolas. That's part of the town's history. The town felt it was useful to maintain those ties."

The facility will be renovated to house a police training facility and a park with a native tree arboretum and an amphitheater. The remaining land will be dedicated to institutional and educational development, which Candland says will be strictly reviewed to protect the historic architecture.

Schuleit holds no illusions that all of the long-forgotten asylums will be saved. She hopes at least one of these examples of American architecture will be preserved as a museum to educate people on the history of caring for the mentally ill.

In fact, Schuleit, a volunteer at a mental health center, advocates less focus on preserving asylums and more on understanding the patients inside them. "Maybe we should focus on working with the people. Shift energy to the people who need the help."