Kirkbride Buildings

Kirkbride buildings have been an obsession of mine for the past eight years or so. Built as insane asylums in the nineteenth-century, they were designed to aid in curing mental illness. That idea of "building as cure" is oddly compelling to me. Also, being built in the nineteenth-century means they come in a rich variety of architectural styles with all the admirable craftsmanship and ornate details of the era on an enormous scale.

My fascination began with the Kirkbride building at Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. After researching and discovering there were more buildings similar to the one at DSH, I began making weekend trips around the country and taking photos with my cheap, point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot. I wanted to get half-decent, contemporary photographs of the buildings because at the time, there weren't very many around--at least on the web. I've upgraded cameras twice and have gained some experience over the years, but it's often difficult to make return trips to these places, so this is a mixed bag in terms of photo quality.

To learn more about Kirkbride buildings and to see more pictures, visit my web site, Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylums

208 photos | 5,447 views

items are from between 17 Aug 2003 & 27 Jun 2008.