Ten years ago, I photographed the abandoned Norwich State Hospital in Connecticut. At the time, the property was over one hundred years old. Five years after that first visit, this historic property, that once housed over 3,000 patients, was demolished.
Photo: "Iron Sky"
This location was once the home of a large Steel Corporation and a town with a population of 4.000. The property contained dorms, an auditorium and a swimming pool, among other amenities. Also located on this property was what became one of the largest California iron mines. In 1983, this mine ceased operation and the mining town was abandoned.
Photo: "Rockland Halls"
Inside the former Rockland Psychiatric Hospital in New York.
Established in 1927, this facility was constructed following the cottage style plan. By the hospital's peak, there were approximately 9,000 patients filling even the hospital halls.
Photo: "Dental Work"
Dentist chair inside one of the wards at a former New York State asylum.
Photo: "Octagons and Curves"
Image taken in 2009
The Woodward Ave Presbyterian Church in Detroit opened in 1911. The facility, designed in an English Gothic style, also contained classrooms for Sunday school in the rear. The church closed in 1993 and has been abandoned ever since.
Photo: "Half Time"
The Laurelton State Village for Feeble-Minded Women of Childbearing Age opened in 1917, with 36 patients, and was the first facility of its kind designed to segregate and care for "feeble-minded" women from puberty through menopause. The facility was established on the principles of eugenics and the premise that one’s intelect or mental deficiency was hereditary and the segregation of those individuals was crucial to ensure they did not reproduce and pass down those genetics. in the cannery, kitchen, laundry or in the fields. There were also recreational portions to the campus, as seen above.
In the late 1960's a radical change was made and males were admitted to the campus. Decades later, in 1998, the facility would shut its doors.
Photo: "Preserve Greystone!"
In July 2008 Greystone Park Psychiatric closed and the remaining patients and Administration Offices relocated to the new facility less than a mile away.
Since then, the state of New Jersey has been deliberating over the best course of action for the decaying hospital. In the last few years, a group known as Preserve Greystone formed and has been advocating for the preservation of the massive Kirkbride building, along with hundreds of historians, preservationists and nearby residents.
Sadly, the state has not even entertained contracts of up to $100 million to restore the facility, but instead have chosen to demolish the building using $50 million of taxpayer money. Sometime later this year, the building will be demolished and over one hundred years of history, stories and medicine will be nothing more than a memory.
Photo: "Little Boxes"
Storage closet in the female wards at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey.
Over the last few decades much of this hospital has been collapsing due to weather and lack of upkeep. The Administration section of the asylum was the most recently abandoned portion, vacated less than 10 years ago, due to the construction of a new Greystone behind the current decaying building.
Unfortunately, this building is in danger of demolition and will likely be nothing more than a piece of forgotten history by the end of 2014.
Photo: "Sinks"
A collection of sinks and combs inside a restroom in the female wards at the former Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital in New York.
Photo: "Memories of Four"
Painting in the female violent ward
Four years ago, I had the opportunity to shoot the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey. I spent a mere few hours wandering the halls, feeling incredible rushed and unable to cure the longing in my heart for seeing the whole complex and spending countless minutes staring and photographing every detail of the asylum.
When I returned home from that trip, I discovered about 30 of the less than 100 images I had taken, were missing off the memory card; I was devastated.
Earlier this month, I had a chance to return and the asylum was as glorious as I remembered. Unfortunately, there is a lot more graffiti and destruction from the people who have set foot inside the walls since, but the natural decay was just as beautiful as I remembered.
I saw this painting, in the female violent ward, four years ago. It was one of the images I lost and when I stumbled upon it again, I remembered exactly how it felt to stand in front of it and take a photo years ago.
Photo: "Records"
Basement room full of manuals, receipts, blueprints and old documents left behind inside the former Administration Building at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Photo: "Sun Porch, Harlem State Hospital"
Sun porch inside the Wingdale Wards at Harlem State Hospital in New York.
Photo: "Chapel Ceiling"
Chapel inside the Administration Building at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
Greystone Psychiatric Hospital was constructed along the Kirkbride plan and admitted its first patient in 1877. The outer portions of the male and female wings were abandoned in the 1970's, but most of the remained in operation until 2008 before fully shutting down. Sadly, this massive, gorgeous hospital will be demolished later this year.
Photo: "Blueberries"
Administration Building at Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York.
This asylum was constructed along the Hudson River in 1871 following the Kirkbride plan. The facility closed in the early 2000's and experienced a major fire in the male wing in 2007, leaving most of that wing collapsed.
"Missile Launch Silo No. 2"
Looking into the no. 2 launch silo inside the Beale 851-C Titan I Missile Base
During the base's operation (1962-1965), the 165 foot deep launch silo would have contained a crib structure to support the 52 foot tall Titan I missile.