Buffalo State Insane Asylum & St.

 Elizabeths Hospital

Presented By:
Priya Jain, LEED AP
Goody Clancy

BSA Historic Resources Committee Meeting . Dec. 9 . 2010
Buffalo State Insane Asylum 

St. Elizabeths Hospital
Buffalo State Insane Asylum 

St. Elizabeths Hospital
Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809‐1883)
Source: Yanni, 2007
Bethlem Hospital, Moorfields, London, 1674‐76
Source: Yanni, 2007
Saltpetriere, Paris 1786‐89
Source: Thompson & Golden, 1975
 Moral Treatment
 France‐ traitement morale
 Germany—psychische curmethode
Philippe Pinel
 Italy—cura morale 1745‐1826

 Philippe Pinel
 William Tuke

William Tuke
1732‐1822
“Asylums should be a curative not a 
punitive place”
Maison Nationale de Charenton , Paris 1838‐85
Source: Thompson & Golden, 1975
Maison Nationale de Charenton , Paris 1838‐85
Source: Thompson & Golden, 1975
York Retreat, 1792
Source: Yanni, 2007
Glasgow Lunatic Asylum, 1814
Source: Thompson & Golden, 1975
Friends Asylum, Frankford, Pennsylvania, 1825
Source: Yanni, 2007
Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802‐1887)
 Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride
Superintendent, Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane
& 
Secretary of
AMSAII‐ Association  of Medical Superintendents of 
American Institutions for the Insane
Hospital for the Insane of the Army and Navy and the 
District of Columbia, 1852‐60
Source: National Archives
 “…that every hospital for the
insane should be in the country,
not within 2 miles of a large
town, and accessible at all
seasons...”

“… that no public institution

should possess less than 100
acres of land....”

“… the asylum should not

have more than 250 patients....”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Center Building, 1897
Source: National Archives
 “…all extravagance in the way of
ornamentation should be
avoided...only such an amount
likely to be beneficial to patients
should be allowed..”

“… instead of attempting
something entirely new, the
object should rather be to profit
by the experience of the past....”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Center Building, 1897
Source: National Archives
Source: HHR
Archives, Harvard 
University
Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane
Source: Annual Report 1872
 St. Elizabeths
1855‐1860

Buffalo State Asylum
1872‐1895
c. 1876
c. 1880
Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, c. 1880
Source: Francis Kowsky
 “… a hospital should be
constructed of stone or brick,
as may be found most
economical....”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Outer Male Ward, brick construction
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
 “[Landscapes]… can refresh and delight the eye 
and through the eye, the mind and the spirit.”‐
FLO

Buffalo, Landscape sketch
Source: FLO Archives

St Elizabeths Topographic Plan 1860 St Elizabeths Rendering 1850s

Source: Library of Congress Source: Robinsons & Associates
Farming at Buffalo State Asylum
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center

Summer House , Buffalo State Asylum
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
 “… center building ought to be
the prominent feature....”

“…in the center building should

be a reception room, visitors
room, business office,
superintendents office..chapel..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Superintendent’s Dining Room
St. Elizabeths, Source: National Archives

Superintendent’s Sitting Room
St. Elizabeths, Source: National Archives
Chapel at St Elizabeths Chapel at Buffalo
 “… should have at least eight
distinct wards for each sex....”

“… Each ward should have in it

a parlor, a corridor, single
lodging-rooms for patients, an
associated dormitory
communication with a chamber
for two attendants, a clothes
room, a bath-room, a water-
closet, a dining room, a dumb-
waiter,
waiter and a speaking tube
leading to the kitchen, or other
central part of the building....”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Ward Corridors, Buffalo
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
Ward Corridors, St Elizabeths
Source:GSA Archives
Source: HHR Archives, Harvard University
Source: HHR Archives, Harvard University, augmented by GC
 “… No chamber for the use of a
single patient should ever be less
than 8 by 10 feet, nor should the
ceiling of any story occupied by
patients be less than 12 feet in
height..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Patient Single Rooms, St Elizabeths, 1905 
Source:GSA Archives
 “… a certain number [of patients]
may be lodged in dormitories
containing 4 to 6 beds..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Patient Dormitories, St Elizabeths, 1905 
Source:GSA Archives
 “… food and other articles may
be passed directly from the
basement story into the dining
rooms ..[through] fireproof
dumbwaiters..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Ward Dining Room, St Elizabeths, 1905 
Source:GSA Archives
Rounded wall corners Slatted doors
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center Source: GSA Archives
 “…everything prison-like
should be avoided & means of
affecting the proper degree of
security should be masked..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

St Elizabeths . Source:GSA Archives

 “..corridor walls should be
constructed with flues.. [and]
should be atleast 18 in. thick ..”
Kirkbride’s Manual

Buffalo State Asylum. Source: HHR Archives St Elizabeths . Source: GC

“..all hospitals should be
warmed by passing an
abundance of pure fresh air over
pipes containing steam or hot
water ..”
Kirkbride’s Manual
 Ward Section. Source: Kirkbride’s Manual

Buffalo State Asylum. Source: HHR Archives St Elizabeths . Source: GC

 Exhaust flues in attic , Taunton State Hospital, MA
Source: Asylums, Chris Payne

Heating ducts in basement, Warren State Hospital, PA
Source: Asylums, Chris Payne
 “..boiler house to be placed more
than 100 ft to the rear..”

“..steam is to be conveyed from

boilers to the air chambers under
the buildings ..”

Kirkbride’s Manual

Boiler House,   
St Elizabeths
Source: GSA Archives
c. 1899
St Elizabeths Hopital
Source: St Elizabeths
Laundry Building att Buffalo

Kitchen at St. Eliizabeths
 “..employment in an asylum is
strictly a medical question… &
should be prescribed as
medicine & diet are...”

Buffalo Annual Report 1881

Occupational Therapy at Buffalo 

State Asylum
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
 “..Kill the Lunatic Asylum &
develop the HOME ! ”

Dr. John Butler

Overcrowding at Buffalo State Asylum
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center

Top: Superintendent’s Residence
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center

Bottom: Nurses Home
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
 “..the large structure where
hundreds are herded
together…is being supplanted by
the cottage where the
unfortunate can find a home ...”

American Journal of Psychiatry, 1900

Female Tuberculosis Ward Female Epileptics Ward
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center Source : GSA Archives
 “..the operations upon the
brain…. mark a new era in
surgery ...”

Buffalo Annual Report 1893

Hydrotherapy at Elmwood Hospital, 
Buffalo State Asylum Source: BPC

Operation Theater at New Admin. Bldg, St Es
Source: GSA Archives
St. Elizabeths, c. 1915
Source: FMG Architects
c. 1926
Porches at Buffalo, added c. 1920
Source: GC

Porches at St. Elizabeths, added c. 1936
Source : GC
St. Elizabeths, c. 2000
Source: FMG Architects
Source: Shaun Boyle
Strozzi Bldg, c. 1965
Bldg  c  1965
Source: Buffalo Psychiatric Center
c. 1974
Buffalo State Hospital, 2008
Source: GC
Buffalo State Hospital, 2008
Source: GC

St Elizabeths Hospital, 2008
Source: GC
?
  Buffalo  ‐ NRHP (1973)  NHL (1986)
 St Es  ‐ NRHP (1979)  NHL (1991)

Buffalo State Hospital St Elizabeths Hospital

Source: GC
Source: GC
Architecture & Visitor Center , Buffalo State Hospital
Source: Ralph Applebaum Associates
Architecture & Visitor Center , Buffalo State Hospital
Source: Ralph Applebaum Associates
Master Plan, St Elizabeths Hospital
Source: Chan Kreiger
Weston State Hospital, WV Massachusetts Mental 
Health Center, Boston, 2003
Source: Anna Schuleit

Eastern State Penitentiary, 
Philadelphia
Traverse City State Hospital……………………………....The Village at Grand Traverse Commons
Info & Photos of other Kirkbrides…
http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/

Info & Photos of other Kirkbrides..
http://www.chrispaynephoto.com/

Redevelopment of Buffalo State Hospital—Document Center
http://www.richardson‐olmsted.com/

Redevelopment of St Elizabeths – Document Center
http://www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com/document_center.cfm