3,698 Comments Posted by Motts

According to the original Kirkbride plan, this final wing "tip" would have been used to house the violent and incurable patients; these areas were often the most dangerous and neglected portions of the hospital, giving birth to the term "back wards." Some doctors and staff at various hospitals sent misbehaving patients to these wards as punishment.

I didn't see or photograph a plaque, as we shot for the decrepit structures first, then had to leave in a hurry from Polizei. For a print: http://www.opacity.us/about/contact/

Yup, most of the old building had stamped tin ceilings.

Although most of the hospital shut down in 2003, these wards were closed back in the 1970s.

Too many photos, not enough time. It really takes a while to process each photo, write about and tag each one, organize into a gallery, write about the trip, then craft a few paragraphs on the history of the place after researching it.

I still do this today; I hope to post a handful of some recent trips in the Ephemera section every now and then just for fun.

Yeah 2005; I wouldn't mind seeing the building again, especially if there aren't any more tenants inside!

I don't write stuff down, which is a problem - so I actually do forget lots of details about these trips, and things that don't make their way into the photographs. I try to write a travel log when I shoot overseas though, as those trips are packed with so many excursions that it's difficult to remember what happened even by the end of the week.

I think this was a two-story area, so yeah the basement was underneath.

Yes the porches were made of concrete and steel, probably added between 1930-1950.

I didn't see anything like this anywhere else in the hospital; the sheer number of drawings and writing were definitely the product of many long, boring days on these porches.

They left quite a bit of confidential records in that old hospital even after that.

I imagine this rubber material is more resilient to decay than other kinds of padding, and the craftsmanship put into the construction was excellent, as a sloppy job might create a dangerous situation (such as the material peeling off, revealing a sharp edge or wall fastener). The building itself is in excellent condition, and only recently abandoned (circa 2001).

It does look like wood - it's actually concrete!

The only exposed brick was on the outside of the building, so the markings didn't extend past the porches attached to the sides of the building.

You got it, hydrotherapy tubs, relatively new and in good shape.