Corridor inside the forensic building at Mayview State Hospital in Pennsylvania.
This building was responsible for housing the criminally insane, those guilty by reason of insanity, which is one of the reasons the building is very stark and mundane.
Sadly, this campus was demolished earlier this year.
(Print - http://smu.gs/13FVc27)
Mayview State Hospital, Pennsylvania
Sadly, demolition on this 100 year old campus began late in 2012 and many of the buildings have tragically met their fate. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to document their beauty before it was too late.
Inside the guard booth at the main entrance to the Forensic Building, for the criminally insane, at Mayview State Hospital.
Sadly, most of this campus is now demolished.
It's always interesting looking at the artwork in former asylums. In buildings like the Forensic Building, for the criminally insane, at Mayview State Hospital, it was evident someone attempted to liven up the boring tile corridors and day rooms with paintings of nature.
I've been spending a lot of time sorting through images for the website re-design and when I stumbled upon this one last night, I wanted to share it. It's not the most beautiful or technical photograph, but it serves as a great historical photograph of this space just prior to demolition.
When I had the chance to photograph the location early last year, the demolition process was already underway. In the theatre, many seats had been removed and shoved against the walls and plastic was covering the doorways.
Another view, during blue hour, from inside an Administration Building dayroom at Mayview State Hospital, a former psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania.
This is the last image in the cue from this asylum. Sadly, it is currently being demolished, so these are some of the last images from this place...
Mayview State Hospital, in Pennsylvania, was in operation for over 100 years. When it was founded, the patient count was around 300, but during the hospital's peak, the patient numbers reached 4,200.
The asylum was officially closed in 2008, but many of the buildings had been abandoned for years prior.
In 2010, the campus was purchased and in the spring of 2012, campus demolition was already underway. Abatement had already begun inside the main building and a few structures had already been demolished. Inside this theatre, most of the seats had been removed and stacked against the walls, but this small section was still in tact.
An empty room in the North Annex at Mayview State Hospital, a Pennsylvania asylum constructed over 100 years prior to its demolition earlier this year.
While walking down the corridor in a tubercular building at Mayview State Hospital, this particular scene caught my eye. On this patient door, plastic flowers had been affixed with scotch tape near the crooked name placard. I couldn't help but wonder when they were put there and by whom...
Night approaches inside a dayroom of the North Annex Building at Mayview State Hospital in Pennsylvania.
Sadly, this complex is being demolished after over 100 years of service to the mentally ill.
As a follow-up to this morning's post about the demolition of Mayview State Hospital, here's an image of a bulldozer parked outside one of the tubercular wards. The building in the distance is the North Annex, pictured in this morning's post.
Central staircase inside the North Annex building at Mayview State Hospital.
The Mayview campus contained 39 buildings and was constructed on 335 acres. At the hospital's peak in the 1930's, this campus was home to over 4,000 patients.
The hospital closed in 2008, after 115 years of service. The state sold the property in 2010, for just over $500,000, to a company with a plan to turn the property into a "high amenity regional business park."
During this visit in April 2012, many of the buildings had already been demolished.
I found this painting, possibly done by a patient, on a wall in a first floor day room of the North Annex at Mayview State Hospital in Pennsylvania. The windows opposite this painting look out towards the other buildings on campus. From here one could see the the tubercular wards.
The first floor landing of the main staircase in the administration building of the North Annex at Mayview State Hospital.
Mayview State Hospital in Pennsylvania closed in December 2008 after being in operation for over 100 years. At the time of the closure, under 40 patients remained, a drastic difference from the 4,000 patients that called Mayview home at the hospital's peak in the 1930's.
The North Annex building, shown here, was one of the last buildings on the campus to shut down.
