Hudson River State Hospital

Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 1 - Arches & stained glasses



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 2 - Hall



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 3 - Smoking room



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 4 - Wanna escape?



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 5 - Collapses



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 6 - 1928 night's report



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 7 - The green hall



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 8 - Stairway



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 9 - The upside down boat



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 10 - Atic



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 11 - Medical report



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 12 - The canteen



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 13 - La promenade



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 14 - Day rrom



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 15 - Cheap savings



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 16 - DIAGNOSTIC



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 17 - Collapses II



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 18 - Playfield



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 19



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 20 -Trying to avoid the collapse



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 21 - Movement



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 22 - Injection



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 23 - The admin building



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 24



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 25 - Washing room



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 26 - Shoes



Hudson River State Hospital - (c) Forbidden Places - Sylvain Margaine - 27 - Loom





The Kirkbride building. Click to enlarge! The Kirkbride building. Click to enlarge!

The Kirkbride

Welcome to the Hudson River State Hospital located in the United States in Poughkeepsie, New York. This gigantic hospital has overlooked the Hudson River for 136 years since its initial construction in 1871. The various hospital buildings were constructed and belong to the famous Kirkbride architectural order (read more on this excellent website).

The hospital was divided into two wings, for male and female patients, with an administration section located in the center. The male wing was much larger than the respective female wing. This was caused by the number of patients being unequal between the sexes (see the sky view from the hospital using the link above).

Your browser does not support the video tag - Navigateur non supporté



The chapel - Click to enlarge! The chapel - Click to enlarge!

Decadence

The beauty of the decay was unbelievable in this hospital. Most of the original constructions had been preserved.

Future renovation construction of the hospital were planned long ago. A fire, caused by lightning, burned the male wing in June 2007. As of the date of this article, the fate of Hudson Psyche Center remains unknown.

Hopefully this awesome Kirkbride will be saved. The United States is certainly not Europe and listing historical buildings as monuments might not be enough to protect them…

Archive documents dated between 1891 and 1918 (click on a thumbnail to enlarge):



Supervisory daily

report from 1925 (front) Supervisory dailyreport from 1925 (front)



Supervisory daily

report from 1925 (back) Supervisory dailyreport from 1925 (back)



Board of managers and

number of patients in 1918 Board of managers andnumber of patients in 1918



Hudson River Fund

voucher from 1892 Hudson River Fundvoucher from 1892



Invoice from David B.

Crockett from 1891 Invoice from David B.Crockett from 1891



How to reach the

Hospital in 1918 How to reach theHospital in 1918



Various accounting

documents from 1891 Various accountingdocuments from 1891

Special thanks to Dr. Bob for sharing the old postcards.

Reference for the scanned documents: Handbook of the State Hospital Commission and the Hospitals for the Insane, 1918, E.S.Graney.