(no subject)

[lapsedmodernist]

our posse arrived as the sun was just starting to set. I got some nice shots of the outside...as people who've been inside know, the veins and entrails of this particular Bride range from very dark to pitch black...sadly, most of the photos inside had to be done with a flash...even in the rooms and hallways that let in cracks of light, at that time of day, even a long exposure wouldn't have helped.

here are some exteriors of the administration building, and one of the remainins wings:







in this room one of the windows wasn't boarded up, and a small snowhill formed under it. There were racoon tracks on the floor.

Comments

[macthud]

oh, I weep for the deaths of these buildings...

so much waste! so little reason! so much we could *do* with them!

at least they're beautiful in their dying.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

bizzarrely, they are building a new mental hospital there. at least it's not condos, like Danvers.

[twotoedsloth.livejournal.com]

Actually, I quite like the stroller. Very... well, very. The exteriors are lovely, but best of all they are so so 19th century Massachusetts mental asylum.

I remember idlerat once telling me about a friend of hers who worked in a MA facility for the mentally ill built in the early 20th, I think. The building seemed to be designed to make you feel crazy with things like disproportionate steps and other disorienting features.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

do you know it it was a Kirkbride building?

[amberskyfire.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I kinda like the last two more than the two right before them :)

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

really? but the flash flattens things out so much...

[criminaliste.livejournal.com]

i was there thursday!

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

was it lighter/earlier in the day?

[criminaliste.livejournal.com]

around noonish, i was in the area with my family so i couldn't go in and explore, just stopped by for some exteriors

[miekec]

That second pic looks so much like an old-fashioned postcard. Or something you would see in a book. Neat.

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen the movie Session 9 filmed inside there?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

that's not where Session 9 was filmed.

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait. It's not Danvers, is it. A different Kirkbride. Sorry.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

nope--Danvers is all condos now. There are lots of Kirks in MA--or at least there were, before they became an endangered species.

One of my exploring buddies is prone to saying "Hello, Gordon" when we are ambling down a particularly dark hallway.

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

Sorry to clog up your comments page.

I'm surprised that I didn't recognize the building from your pictures. For months, my wife has been reading a book by a doctor who worked at Worcester. And there's a picture of it on the cover. The clock tower is unmistakable. We haven't gone there. Probably should before the demolition.


Also, just wanted to say your photos are awesome.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

thanks, glad you like the photos! They are building a new mental institution where they are tearing down WSH, and the wings are going to be demolished in a couple of months, but I think they are gutting/preserving the admin building. It's legal to walk around it, so if you guys wanted to pay a visit, it's not a problem at all. If you plan on going inside, bring respirators.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

although Scorsese wanted it for his latest film.