The sanitarium, which catered to mostly upper-class patients, was set to undergo more improvements in 1928, including updating a terraced English garden and adding elaborate mosaic fountains. However, after the stock market crash in 1929, the lavish changes never came. Instead, a lone lion’s head fountain was installed to siphon spring water. Wisteria, ivy and bamboo were planted, and other simple improvements were made.

In the 1950s, the sanitarium closed and was later reopened as the Terrace Hill Nursing Home, a 24-hour-care facility for the “aged, chronically ill, invalids, and convalescents.” By the 1970s, the 70-bed facility was overcrowded, housing more than 100 patients. Severe flooding occurred with no repair, and parts of the building became dilapidated and uninhabitable. In 2000, the facility was closed and all the windows boarded. Squatters came and went — a pair of them even left art installations behind made from old hospital beds and scribbled poems on the walls.

It was not until 14 years later that Glave took that memorable bike ride.

The future for the space is bright, and walking through the light-filled hallways, once dark and decaying, it was easy to imagine what is to come, as Glave excitedly gave a tour. “This will one day be someone’s living room, and here their kitchen,” he said.