The Composer had to go there today on business and I could not pass up the opportunity to poke around in this evocative ruin.
The grounds were completely self-contained, because no one in town wanted to go up there with the sick people. It had its own water supply, fire station, chapel (burying grounds? I don't know), and below the hospital, rows and rows of tiny white cottages with screened porches among the pines. The fragrance of pines was thought to combat the disease.
The last patient left in 1973, but there are still paper towels on the side of the sink.
Every floor had special rooms for doctors and nurses.
Felix and I in the third floor foyer. The main hospital is Arts and Crafts style. Look at all that geometry: beauty for sick people.
But of course with no power we took the stairs.
Endless rows of doors. Every room held a human being: so many stories.
The x-ray light boxes were the most poignant things I saw.
A patient's tiny room:
A bathroom:
A glimpse of beauty:
Amazing! It's almost like they just all walked out one day and left everything behind. Kind of haunting, but very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHow impossibly romantic! I can't believe it is just standing there and that it hasn't been stripped of its fittings and vandalised by local hooligans. Maybe there are no local hooligans! In England I'm afraid it would have been dismemberd and built on long ago - or converted to luxury apartments. I want to buy it and live in it myself!
ReplyDeletethat is amazing! I read your blog daily-you have a wonderful blog. It is so peaceful to read. I love your photographs. That building is haunting yet beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy mother's first husband passed away in such a place (of TB), leaving her with seven children and no income. I just can't imagine what it was like for people in those places.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as a lover of architecture, the building is amazing.
Fascinating - architecturally and sociologically. What a find!
ReplyDeleteI went to a school that was in an old TB hospital. It was very interesting as parts weren't able to be used for classrooms and were supposed to be offlimits but many of us wandered around the "forbidden" areas! That building is mostly gone and redone now, but back in the late 70's to early 80's it was wonderful also.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an adventure. :)
ReplyDeleteFascinating place. If the walls could speak...
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your adventure with us.
That is just incredible. If there were a building like that here, I fear that it would be vandalized, as well. I, too, read your blog each day. It is just beautiful to look at (and read, of course). I did have a question for you - I have homeschooled for 14 years and am a little burned out. Would you mind sharing what you are currently using? I am still homeschooling my last 2 children - 7th grade and 2nd grade (12 & 8). Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by the history of TB especially having read Charlotte Yonge's "Pillars of the House" recently.
ReplyDeleteOpen air was also supposed to be good for consumption. My Great-grandfather died of TB in 1912 on his 33rd birthday. He wasn't taken into a sanitorium but sent home to the family farm for the open air and farm food. My Father still has his copies of CH Spurgeon's "Treasury of David" -the favourite volume faded by the sunlight -which he read in the garden during his illness.
Sarah
My grandmother worked at a sanatorium when she was in her mid 20's. That was in the province of Saskatchewan, in Canada though. So it was neat to see inside another one. It is amazing how something as simple as the paper towels on the sink leaves a haunting feeling like the building is still being used.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting photographs -- reminds me of www.abandoned-places.com. It must've been fun to explore with your boys.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be lovely to reclaim this building for some good purpose? I can't think what it would be suited to, exactly, but the Bible College I attended was once a retirement home for aging Monks. The rooms were sparsely furnished to become dorm rooms for the students, and the Chapel was well used. The prayer rooms were used for individual music practice rooms and the activity rooms became classes, offices and the on campus bookstore.
ReplyDeleteAny prospects for redeeming this lovely old building?
How moving these pictures are! You are right, so many stories...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog, love it! love it!
To me this is sad... and just a wee bit creepy. :) But compelling at the same time!
ReplyDeleteThe building pictured here was the main hospital building. Half of the first floor is currently in use as administrative offices for a state residential facility for the mentally handicapped that occupies several buildings of the sanitorium complex. The remaining four floors and basement have apparently been vacant since 1973.
ReplyDeleteWhile the first floor occupancy seems to help prevent vandalism, the natural elements of moisture, heat and cold have taken their toll, as you can see.
There was a TB sanitarium on the hill overlooking the canal near the town I grew up in and it too was in ruins. As kids we wandered through it and there were still iron beds with the names of patients taped to them.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog...your photography is gorgeous, your sewing projects inspired and your life so seemingly peaceful....a breath of fresh air!
Rebecca in IL
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across your blog. What a lovely collection of photographs!! I also loved this old building. I grew up in a hospital-turned-house which was quite fun. Not as big as this one, but still unique. It is now a municipal court building. I would have liked it to still be in the family. Sigh.
Have a blessed week!
Nancy