Photo: "Kirkbride Blue Hour"

Taken during blue hour on a full moon evening.

This is another one of my favorite Kirkbride buildings at the Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital in New York. 

Much of the building has decayed over the years since closing in 2003. Poughkeepsie, New York experiences snow, heat and humidity throughout the year, which have all contributed to the demise of the wings of this hospital. Fortunately, the Administration section, shown here, has remained in tact due to a layer of protection placed over the roof before the weather took a toll. 

Photo: "Administration Staircase, Blue Hour"

 
 

This image was shot during blue hour inside the Administration Building at the former Hudson River State Hospital in New York. I really do love this staircase. Sadly, blue hour never lasts as long as I would like, so by the time I took the 3 shots necessary for this pano, it was dark and the blue hue was gone.

Photo: "Into the Night Light"

As I was packing up to leave the Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital in New York last spring, I realized I hadn't gotten a shot of this collapsed room, though I had walked right past it earlier in the day. I rushed down a few floors and set up just after the sun set behind the hill and light begun to turn soft.

It's not often I bracket my shots, but I made the decision to quickly snap 3 images of varying exposure, unsure if I would ever edit them together in a composite. Tonight, I finally blended all the images together to help balance the exposure for the bright windows, the room and also the dark collapse. 

Photo: "Basking Rays"

Front facing office in the Administration Building of the Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital in New York

The wings of the Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital in New York have decayed and collapsed beyond compare over the last few decades, due to weather and a lightning fire, since the asylum was abandoned, but the roof of the Administration Building was properly covered when vacated, which has left that section of the Kirkbride building in tact.

Photo: "Admin Building, Hudson River Psychiatric"

I have wandered the lonely collapsed halls of the former Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital many times, but until last month, I had never seen the Administration Building from this perspective. Standing in front of this historic grand architecture watching the moon rise was really magical.

This gorgeous building was completed in 1871, on a piece of land along the river in Poughkeepsie, New York. Most Kirkbride buildings were constructed with symmetrical wings, but this hospital was not, because there was an expectation that more male patients would be submitted than female. 

The campus operated for over one hundred years before closing in 2003. The campus not sits abandoned, mostly collapsed from years of neglect and a major fire in the male wing in 2007. 

Photo: "Three Floors & An Armoire"

The collapse in the female wings of Hudson River State Hospital is extensive. When the hospital shut down, no efforts were made to cover the roof of the wings and the weather eventually began to take it's toll on this beautiful Kirkbride Building.

This image shows a storage closet on the second floor with a collapsed ceiling and floor, which allows us to see the identical storage closet on the first floor and possibly a patient or nurses room on the 3rd floor with a beautiful armoire.

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.