So, Motts. You must do a lot of traveling. I've noticed you've taken pictures of these places from all over the place. Anyway, I was reading the discription on the main Henryton page, and it's strange; this hospital was a place for African American TB patients, but why was it run by the Mental Health Commission? Just wondering.
It used to be that people with TB were sent out to sanitoriums in the country. In some old photos of Byberry, you see some people out on porches in beds. These were people with TB, as they had to be kept away from the other patients. Also, they thought that fresh air would help cure TB.
I live in Charleston, SC, and an outskirt of Charleston is Summerville. It used to be a tiny little village, and there was a TB sanitorium there for a long time. Of course, nowadays, Summerville is a large town, and is no longer the country. The sanitorium was torn down a long time ago, before my mom was born.
Have you ever heard of the writer Dame Agatha Christie? She generally wrote mysteries, and one of her main characters was a man named Poirot. You remind me somewhat of him, Motts, as you both catch site of the smallest detail.
The Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance (PM&PA;) actually rewired some of the buildings to get back electricity. They even installed a new telephone box, until it was destroyed by vandals.
Was this the hospital? It might've been wing C in the hospital; it was condemned and sealed off because of fire code reasons. When you say it might've been a dormitory, it could've been one of the rooms where sick patients slept.
If this was in another building on the third floor, then that would explain this room being sealed off. All the buildings with third floors (not counting the attics or hte basements) had their third floors sealed off. It is unknown why they did this, although there is some speculation that it was only economical, as the heating couldn't reach the third floor.
You said there were sunflowers painted on the windows here. In that case this might've at one time been an occupational therapy room or a dayroom. The dayrooms were where the patients went during the day; they were usually hellholes. The occupational therapy rooms were where the patients could actually do something, like music or art or woodworking.