3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

Great colour, and the bright lit door beckons....

Thanks, Motts!

Sorry, ragdoll, I gave them all to Marty.

I love coming here and seeing something new, I get all excited like a little kid! Dark or not Motts, your photographs still show the story........

Kirkbride specified the room sizes, the single rooms were specifically designed to be too small for two people - which is what the state in its wisdom did. Rooms were designed to be 9 x 11, or 10 x 8 with 12 foot ceilings, and 6'6" x 3' windows with 10 panes and doors 6'8" x 2'8"

The Kirkbride deisgn called for small dining rooms in each wing, and an underground 'railroad' system for moving food on carts on tracks from a central kitchen, then uploaded on dumb waiters.

rich_edwards - yes, Danvers is on the National Register; however, in America the National Register, as developed under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 is used as a form of identification rather than protection. Although a listing on the NR is still considered a form of protection. Every state in America has it's own laws and regulations based on and under the NR laws. Furthermore, the NR laws then get split into specific local laws, which means the term Preservation has many definitions depending on what state, county, or city you reside in.
A few key points listed in the registry process are as follows:
-A listing in the National Register honors the property by recognizing its importance to its community, State, or the Nation.
-Under Federal law, private property owners can do anything they wish with their National Register-listed property, provided that no Federal license, permit, or funding is involved.
-Owners have no obligation to open their properties to the public, to restore them, or even to maintain them, if they choose not to do so.

Mainly, once a property is listed on the National Register...let's say developers come in and try to prove it is more useful to tear down a structure for housing or for infrastructure. The SHPO and occasionally FPO must do a complete report on whether it is fundamental to save the property based on the imprtance it lends to Federal or State history or not. A listing on the register requires this report be done instead of say, the government using emminant domain on the property or worse saying "Okay" to the developers.

However, with many of our nation's developers pumping money into local, state and national campaigns and given the fact that section 106 of the National Preservation Act is under attack by developers and others it is a wonder America can preserve anything at all.

There is now a campaign by developers where I live to try and buy protected National Park lands from the government for new housing developments...
...Anyway I have no idea if this answered your questions and I could go on all day about the NRHP

I LOVE willies...In fact I need more in my life...

Gorgeous!!!Love your sense of perspective and light, Mr. Motts. These old hospitals are so exciting to see through your lens. You have a wonderfully romantic vision. Its great to see the insides of these places you always wondered about.

These spaces didn't have to look this bland the basic aesthetics of the place is attractive. The doorways are graceful and curving walls are very appealing. The blase' white walls must have made the place way too clinical. It's sad that the patients comfort was and sometimes still is the last they consider.

I was there yeterday. All the chairs were set up in 2 almost perfect circles. in the center of the circles was a strange configuration made up of some of the other chairs and other debris. Kind off spooky huh

how do you find these places?

have you seen the movie session 9? thats what this website reminds me of.

Whenever you describe a setting as having been "pitch black", I am always astonished at how well the photos are done; especially the richness of the colors or the contrast and midranges of the monochromes. Very nice. I think what you do is, in many ways, an important public service, in that buildings have a life cycle, but usually the only aspects of the existence of the building that are documented are the creation, the usage, and sometimes, the very end and demolition of the building. I don't beleive there is wide-spread documentation of the actual _decay_ of the empty building between the end of it's useful life and its demolition.


Besides, urban decay totally fascinates me. ;)

I can see it now, "Kirkbride Condominiums at Danvers", none of the yuppies would get the significance