Difference between revisions of "Portal:Featured Article Of The Week"

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|Title= Kirkbride Planned Institutions
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|Title= Northampton State Hospital
|Image= Danvers Aerial 01.jpg
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|Image= Northampton insane asylum.jpg
 
|Width= 200px
 
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|Body= The Kirkbride Plan is a 19th century building style that is the direct result of Dr. [[Thomas Story Kirkbride]]. Early in his career as superintendent of the [[Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital]] he wrote a book titled: On the Construction, Organization and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane. Within his book he espoused an architectural design for the hospital, administration of said asylum, placement of the hospital, and how the hospital grounds should be created and maintained.  
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|Body= Built in 1856, the Northampton Lunatic Hospital was the fourth Kirkbride building to be constructed; it originally consisted of a single three story brick building, designed in a Gothic Revival style, and had the capacity for 250 patients. Following the Kirkbride design, the central administration floors were flanked by two patient wings, one for male and one for female. After many different expansions and additions to attempt to relieve overcrowding, the building seems to have become a confusing maze of rooms and hallways.
  
A Kirkbride Plan building consists of a center section for the hospital administration and (in the early days) a living area for the superintendant and his family. Behind and to either side of the administration section are "wings" that contain patient wards. The patient wards staggered out and back from the administration section. From the air the building would look like a "V" or a "bat wing". Chapels, auditoriums, libraries, and kitchens were often built directly onto the rear of the administration section as this was a convenient, central location for these facilities since the male and female patients resided on opposite sides of the building. The Kirkbride Plan allowed for many other advantages over previous building styles. [[Kirkbride Planned Institutions|Click here for more...]]
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At the turn of the century, the now renamed Northampton State Hospital housed 600 people in overcrowded living conditions. Infirmary wings were added to both sides in 1905 and frequent additions were made since, but the hospital remained congested and the old structure was decaying quickly. By the 1950's, the patient population had peaked at over 2,500; the hospital began to serve only as a roof over the heads of the most unfortunate people, and the original ideals of "moral treatment" of patients were long forgotten. [[Northampton State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:44, 5 July 2010

Featured Article Of The Week

Northampton State Hospital


Northampton insane asylum.jpg

Built in 1856, the Northampton Lunatic Hospital was the fourth Kirkbride building to be constructed; it originally consisted of a single three story brick building, designed in a Gothic Revival style, and had the capacity for 250 patients. Following the Kirkbride design, the central administration floors were flanked by two patient wings, one for male and one for female. After many different expansions and additions to attempt to relieve overcrowding, the building seems to have become a confusing maze of rooms and hallways.

At the turn of the century, the now renamed Northampton State Hospital housed 600 people in overcrowded living conditions. Infirmary wings were added to both sides in 1905 and frequent additions were made since, but the hospital remained congested and the old structure was decaying quickly. By the 1950's, the patient population had peaked at over 2,500; the hospital began to serve only as a roof over the heads of the most unfortunate people, and the original ideals of "moral treatment" of patients were long forgotten. Click here for more...