Portal:Featured Article Of The Week
Featured Article Of The Week
Queen Street Mental Health Centre
In 1846, construction began on the first ‘Provincial Lunatic Asylum’ on a 50 acre portion of the Garrison Reserve, which was Military property. Designed by architect John George Howard, it was the largest and most modern building in British North America at the time; with its own 12,000 gallon fresh water tank, flush toilets, and central heating. The 40 foot diameter dome was the highest point in Toronto. It was capped by a cupola as a lookout guarding against potentially renewed attacks (as in the War of 1812) by the American military. At the time, the asylum was considered to be on the remote outskirts of the City, away from City residents who would travel to the area to look at the building as a tourist attraction. On August 22, 1846, an official ceremony was held by provincial and civic officials for the laying of the cornerstone by the Honorable Chief Justice John Beverly Robinson. Three and a half years later on January 26, 1850, the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, with 250 beds, opened its doors to its first 211 patients who had been transferred from the Temporary Asylum, which was housed in a former jail on King Street.
At this time, there were few treatments available for patients with mental illness. There was, though, ‘Moral Therapy’, which included a lot of fresh air and work-related activities for patients, such as laundry, kitchen duties, and farming of the land. Typically, patients wouldn’t get better – many of them would stay for life. The Toronto architecture firm of Cumberland and Ridout was engaged in 1851 to design a wall with lodges and an entrance gate around the asylum. The half-height portion of wall between the lodges, fronting Queen Street West, had many decorative details, including an iron fence on top of the wall. And, a year later in 1852, an all-brick wall on the north, east, and west sides of the property was completed. In 1853, Dr. Joseph Workman, an enlightened clinician and medical educator open to new ideas, came on board as the asylum’s Medical Superintendent, a role he held until 1875.Click here for more...
