|
The End
of the Kirkbride
| By
1891 the hospital was 40 years old and
the Main Building was showing signs of wear. Dr. Thomas Kirkbride had passed away a few
years prior in 1883, and there was
now an even greater push than ever for
the new cottage plan building
style. Times of change were on the
horizon for the hospital. In the
first report of the new
superintendent, Henry Orth, he
dedicated four pages of the five
page report to the "deplorable and
almost uninhabitable condition of
the building". He described the
Main
Building as "totally
inadequate for the care and
maintenance, much less the
treatment, of the insane of
the seventeen counties of
this district." Ten thousand
dollars were appropriated by
the state legislature for
repairs to the
building. After much deliberation
among the hospital trustees and Orth, the ward floors were replaced
and repairs were made to the outside
of the air ducts and drains. In May
of 1893 an electric light plant
was built in the
boiler house. Wires were
run along the ceiling in the Main
Building for the electric, these
wires can be seen in some of the
hallway photographs. This also allowed for
electric watch clocks in each ward,
these clocks allowed attendants to
have a reliable source of time.
Larger water mains were also
installed and fire
extinguishers were distributed
throughout the wards. |
|
|
Superintendent Henry Orth |
In
May of 1893 the Pennsylvania State
Legislature appropriated
$100,000 for the purpose of tearing
down and removal of the
administration section of the Main
Building and for constructing a new
Administration Building.
According to Orth, this was to be
just "the first step". Addison
Hutton of Philadelphia was hired to
draw plans for not only the new
Administration Building, but also
for a new group of hospital
buildings. The Main Building was
described by Orth and Hutton as "a
dull monotonous structure" of
"depressing influence". They claimed
that it retarded the recovery of
patients. The cost of rebuilding the
hospital was estimated at $400,000.
The new plans called for a central Administration
Building
with four cottages on each side, of
which were not to exceed two
stories, connected by
corridors. The
plans also included a bakery,
congregate dinning building,
chapel,
amusement hall,
dormitory for nurses, and
"numberless outbuildings".
|
 |
Over the next 17 years the
Hospital would undergo a
complete rebuilding. The new
Administration Building was
completed in 1895. In 1897
$150,000 was appropriated
for tearing down and
removing the wings and for the
construction of new patient
buildings. The wings were
systematically
abandoned and torn
down over eight years.
Starting with the first set
of male and female wings in
1900 when the new
Infirmary Building was
completed. A few years later
in 1905 the demolition of
the remaining male wings
took place when the new
Psychopathic, Convalescent,
and Violent male buildings
were completed. And finally
in 1908 with the completion
of the new female
Psychopathic, Convalescent,
and Violent buildings the
remaining female wings were
demolished as well. This
marked the end of the Main
Building, only 50 years
after the first
patient arrived at the
hospital. A
photograph, taken some
time between 1895 and 1899
shows the wings of
the Main Building with a gap
between them where the
administration section once
was. In 1950 the land
behind the new
Administration Building was
excavated to build the
Admissions Building and
debris from the Main
Building was unearthed. The
new Admissions Building now
occupies the same space that
the administration section once
did. |
|
The new Administration
building, with the Main
Building
behind it |
|
|
 |
|
A color coded chart showing
demolition dates for each
section of the building |
|
