Clinic Building at Greystone Park State Hospital

It is truly a strange thing when a steam pipe bursts under an abandoned building in the dead of winter, but that’s exactly what happened under the Clinic Building at Greystone Park State Hospital in 2007, a month before the building was unceremoniously knocked down.  The steam congregated near the ceiling of the abandoned asylum infirmary, condensing on the pipes and dripping down in regular patterns - and creating these ice stalagmites. 

St Johns Hospital: UK

St Johns Hospital: UK Decemner 2012

The Lincolnshire Couty Lunatic Asylum was built in 1852 in a grand Italian style. set in 120 acres comprising gardens, farmland and a burial ground.

Originally there was space for 250 patients but over the years the hospital was expanded, in keeping with the original style designed by the acrhitects Hamilton and Thomas Percy. At Its peak the capacity was over 900 patients.

During this period conditions such as depression and post natal depression were classed as a mental illness and the patients were treated the same as someone with schizophrenia. Brain surgery was believed to cure mental illness and was commonly used in asylums such as this. Also as shocking as it may sound elctro shock therapy was of popular use.

One feature that stands out throughout the building is the honeycomb vaulted ceiling. It is of common belief that the honeycomb pattern is a form of sound proofing, to stop the sound of inmates screaming down the long corridors. These hospitals were nowhere near as horrific as people imagine. The honeycomb style ceiling was a type of fireproofing incorporated into the buildings construction.

During WWII the patients were transferred to other nearby establishments as the site was turned into an emergency hospital.

Administration of the hospital passed to the National Health Service in 1948. By the early 1960s it was known by its final name of St John’s Hospital.

St John’s Hospital itself was closed in December 1989 with the remaining patients transferred to other establishments.

The site is Grade III listed other than the water tower which was brought down in July 2014. The site has mostly remained empty since. Work has been ongoing on the site for a few years now and some of the buildings have been converted into flats. It seemed to pause for a while but I believe it is in full swing again as I write this.
- See more at: http://www.darbiansphotography.com/st-johns-asylum-urbex/yzrm90va9hfsx930ddz1xosjz37i7f#sthash.s9gaCbRw.dpuf

Salmon Building

At the dawn of the 20th century, Connecticut decided to build a new asylum in the town of Preston, just down the river from Norwich.  Dubbed Norwich State Hospital, the campus would expand to over 30 buildings at its peak, before deinstitutionalization closed it down.  Perhaps the most fascinating structure on the campus was the Salmon building, one of the first constructed on the grounds in 1905.  Salmon was a maximum-security forensic (not guilty by reason of insanity) & violent ward for male patients, with heavy iron bars built into the foot-thick brick walls; there would be no escape, with airlock-style doors throughout the hallways to ensure many layers of security.  Pictured here are some of the secure doors at sunset - a typical patient room at left, and a seclusion room at right.  Sadly, in 2012, the Salmon building was unceremoniously demolished along with Awl (the female equivalent), the Theatre, and the Powerhouse.  Read more about the Salmon Building here.