Hudson River State Hospital

Infobox nrhp
name = Hudson River State Hospital
Main Building
nrhp_type = nhl


caption = Side view of main building, early 2000s
location = Town of Poughkeepsie, NY
nearest_city = Poughkeepsie
lat_degrees = 41 | lat_minutes = 43 | lat_seconds = 59 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 73 | long_minutes = 55 | long_seconds = 41 | long_direction = W
area = 296 acres (118 ha)
built =
architect = Frederick Clarke Withers, Calvert Vaux, and Frederick Law Olmsted
architecture = High Victorian Gothic
designated = June 30, 1989cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2062&ResourceType=Building
title=Hudson River State Hospital, Main Building|date=2007-09-15|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = June 29, 1989cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum =89001166
mpsub =
governing_body = Hudson Heritage LLCThe Hudson River State Hospital, is a former New York state psychiatric hospital whose main building has been designated a National Historic Landmark due to its exemplary High Victorian Gothic architecture, the first use of that style for an American institutional building.,citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/89001166.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Hudson River State Hospital, Main Building] |774 KB|author=Carolyn Pitts|date=February, 1989|publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/89001166.pdf Accompanying 5 photos, aerial and exterior, from 1960, 1980, and 1985.] |1.34 MB] It is located on US 9 just north of Poughkeepsie, where it dominates the view to the east of the road. The Hudson River Psychiatric Center, nearby, is a successor facility.

Frederick Clarke Withers designed the hospital's buildings in 1867. Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted designed the grounds. It was intended to be completed quickly, but went far over its original schedule and budget and remained under construction for almost a quarter century after it first opened. A century later it was slowly closed down as psychiatric treatment had changed enough that large hospitals were no longer needed, and the facility moved into smaller quarters nearby. The building was closed down in 2003 and since then has fallen into a state of disrepair. It was seriously damaged in a 2007 fire.

History

The entire facility was built over the last three decades of the 19th century, at great cost. Once complete, it would be used as intended for much of the first half of the next century. As psychiatry moved away from inpatient treatments, it began to decline in use until its closure at century's end. Today, it is slowly deteriorating out of public view as it awaits reuse.

19th century

New York had opened what has since become Utica Psychiatric Center in 1843, the first state-run institution for the mentally ill. By the Civil War it was reaching its capacity, so in 1866 then Governor Richard McCormick appointed a five-member state commission to look for a site for a second hospital in the Hudson Valley between New York and Albany, to serve New York City and the counties of Eastern New York.cite news|title=Hudson River Insane Hospital|publisher="The New York Times"|date=December 25, 1868, cited at [http://www.historic51.org/sources.shtml Hudson River State Hospital] , retrieved from historic51.org November 11, 2007.] In January of the following year the members reported to the governor that they had temporarily secured a 296-acre (118 ha) tract of land overlooking the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie, formerly part of the estates of James Roosevelt and William A. Davis. It would cost nothing as the citizens of Dutchess County would be offering it to the state as a gift. Two months later, the state accepted.cite web|title=Hudson River State Hospital|url=http://www.historic51.org/mainbuilding.shtml|accessdate=2007-11-11]

A nine-member Board of Managers was created and appointed to initiate and oversee construction of the actual building. They chose architect Frederick Clarke Withers to design a building according to the Kirkbride Plan, then a popular theory for the design of mental institutions. Withers planned a building 1,500 feet (457 m) in length and over 500,000 square feet (45,000 m²) in area, most of it two wings that would house patients. It was the first institutional building in the U.S. designed in the High Victorian Gothic style. Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead, designers of New York's Central Park, laid out the surrounding landscape. Like Withers, they had been mentored by the influential Andrew Jackson Downing in nearby Newburgh.

The centerpiece of his design was the administration building. The two wings, designed to hold 300 patients of either sex, were divided by a chapel placed between them in the yard behind the administration building so that patients could not see into the rooms of the opposite sex.cite news|title=The Hudson River State Hospital|url=http://www.historic51.org/sources2.shtml|publisher="Harper's Weekly"|date=February 28, 1974|accessdate=2007-11-13] The building and landscape plan were meant to aid in patients' recovery, by giving them adequate space and privacy and imbuing their healing with a sense of grandeur.cite web|first=Michelle|last=Fornabai|title=Advanced Architecture Studio IV|url=http://www.arch.columbia.edu/gsap/60058|accessdate=2007-11-13]

Construction began in 1868, with the cost estimated at $800,000. Cost-saving measures included the construction of a new dock on the Hudson so that building materials could be shipped more directly to the site, quarrying and cutting the foundation stones on site, mixing concrete from local materials and hiring local craftsment instead of a general contractor. The board also deviated from the plan it had sent the state, in particular by building a shorter female wing when it came to believe that fewer patients of that sex would be admitted. As a result it is one of the few Kirkbride hospitals to have been built with asymmetrical wings.cite web|title=Hudson River State Hospital|url=http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/hudsonriver.html|accessdate=2007-11-13]

pending controversies and delays

Despite the efforts to save money, the board was slightly over the $100,000 it had expected to spend that year, according to its first annual report. The main building was completed and opened, with 40 patients admitted, in October 1871. As work continued on other structures planned for the complex, so did the cost overruns. In 1873, the year county residents had been promised the hospital would be finished, the "New York Times" ran an editorial harshly criticizing the board for not only having gone way over budget but for lavish extravagance and waste:

Some efforts were made to stop the project, but the legislature continued to appropriate funds despite further revelations like these. Construction continued until 1895, when further money could not be found. Despite this expenditure of time and money, the hospital's original plan was still not complete, and never would be.

20th century

Buildings continued to be opened and reopened in the 20th century, and as late as 1952 the institution was treating as many as 6,000 patients. Changes in the treatment of mental illness, such as psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs, were making large-scale facilities relics and allowing more patients to lead more normal lives without being committed. By the late 1970s the hospital administration had decided to shut down the two main wings as few patients were residing in them and due to neglect some of the floors had collapsed. The state offices of Mental Health and Historic Preservation clashed over a plan to demolish the wings, even after the National Historic Landmark designation in 1989.

In the 1990s, more and more of the hospital site would be abandoned as its services were needed less and less. It was consolidated with another Dutchess County mental hospital, Hudson Valley Psychiatric Center, in 1994 and closed in 2001. The center moved operations into a much smaller building nearby.cite news|first=Claudia|last=Rowe|title=Modern Efficiency Displaces Historic Psychiatric Hospital|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E2D6123CF933A05756C0A9679C8B63|publisher="The New York Times"|date=June 30, 2001|accessdate=2007-11-15]

The state had decided to sell the property for redevelopment, and in 2005 the Empire State Development Corporation sold 156 acres (62 ha) including the Main Building to Hudson Heritage LLC, a subsidiary of the Chazen Companies, for $2.75 million.cite web|title="Redevelopment Plan"|url=http://www.historic51.org/redevelopment.shtml|accessdate=2007-11-14] Hudson Heritage and Chazen plan to thoroughly renovate the Main Building into a combination hotel/apartment complex as the centerpiece of a residential/commercial campus, Hudson Heritage Park.cite web|title=Hudson Heritage Park|url=http://www.chazencompanies.com/markets/hudson.html|accessdate=2007-11-14]

21st century

These plans hit two setbacks later in the 2000s. In 2005, the Town of Poughkeepsie imposed a moratorium on new construction while it adjusted its zoning to deal with its growth. Hudson Heritage has been seeking to have a "historic revitalization district" created for the property that would help spur its growth.cite news|first=Michael|last=Valkys|title=Town Amends its Building Moratorium|url=http://www.historic51.org/media06.shtml|publisher="Poughkeepsie Journal"|date=February 17, 2006|accessdate=2007-11-14] Then, on May 31, 2007, lightning struck the south wing, causing one of the most serious fires in Dutchess County's history.cite news|first=Christine|last=Pizzutti|title=Fire engulfs building at former psychiatric center|url=http://www.forgottenphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=142|publisher="Poughkeepsie Journal"|date=June 1, 2007|accessdate=2007-11-15] cite web|first=Bill|last=Johnson|title=6+ Alarm Structure Fire - Hudson River Psychiatric Center - Fairview Fire District|url=http://fdphotounit.smugmug.com/gallery/2934697#158360220|accessdate=2007-11-15] It is unclear whether that portion of the building can be effectively restored after such severe damage.In the meantime the property has remained closed to the public. Entrances are fenced off and it is posted. It is hardly if ever patrolled by the Town of Poughkeepsie police, despite what everyone claims. And yet, it remains a popular site with urban exploration enthusiasts, who have posted many pictures of the interiors and exteriors of abandoned buildings to various websites. A band of urban explorers was inside the Kirkbride building during the fire and photographed the early stages of the blaze.

References

External links

* [http://www.historic51.org Historic 51] , site devoted to history and preservation of Main Building.
* [http://www.forbidden-places.net/urban-exploration-hudson-river-state-hospital Forbidden Places] , history, original postacrds and photos from 2004.
* [http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/hudson%20river%20psychiatric%20center.htm Photos] at abandonedbutnotforgotten.com
* [http://www.webmasterlc.com Dark Knights By: WebmasterLC] , Photography, videos and tons of information including about Hudson River State Hospital.

Videos of 2007 fire

*YouTube|9FYWG6tuaYY|Hudson River Psychiatric Center Fire
*YouTube|7UU4c-mT1oI|Hudson River Psychiatric Center Fire 2