[fr] 
[es]Hudson River State Hospital
| Type | Aerial view | Video | Country | Date | Status | Rating | |
 Hospital | Here ! |  Watch it! |  USA | 2006-04-09 | Endangered | ***** |
|
The Kirkbride building. Click to enlarge!
The Kirkbride
Welcome to the Hudson River State Hospital located in the United States in Poughkeepsie, New York. This gigantic hospital has overlooked the Hudson River for 136 years since its initial construction in 1871. The various hospital buildings were constructed and belong to the famous Kirkbride architectural order (read more on this excellent website).
The hospital was divided into two wings, for male and female patients, with an administration section located in the center. The male wing was much larger than the respective female wing. This was caused by the number of patients being unequal between the sexes (see the sky view from the hospital using the link above).
The chapel - Click to enlarge!
Decadence
The beauty of the decay was unbelievable in this hospital. Most of the original constructions had been preserved.
Future renovation construction of the hospital were planned long ago. A fire, caused by lightning, burned the male wing in June 2007. As of the date of this article, the fate of Hudson Psyche Center remains unknown.
Hopefully this awesome Kirkbride will be saved. The United States is certainly not Europe and listing historical buildings as monuments might not be enough to protect them…
Archive documents dated between 1891 and 1918 (click on a thumbnail to enlarge):
Supervisory daily
report from 1925 (front)
Supervisory daily
report from 1925 (back)
Board of managers and
number of patients in 1918
Hudson River Fund
voucher from 1892
Invoice from David B.
Crockett from 1891
How to reach the
Hospital in 1918
Various accounting
documents from 1891
Special thanks to Dr. Bob for sharing the old postcards.
Reference for the scanned documents: Handbook of the State Hospital Commission and the Hospitals for the Insane, 1918, E.S.Graney.