For more than half the nation's history, vast mental hospitals were aprominent feature of the American landscape. From the mid-nineteenth centur... read full description
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Jan 10, 2012
Emily
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When I was 16, I fell in love with this boy who was totally wrong for me. On our first "date" he took me to an abandoned mental hospital near Athens, Ohio. The grounds were gorgeous--back then they didn't skimp on windows, and everywhere the eye could roam was brick, mortar, ivy, old nooks and crannies that were begging for an enterer. I remember thinking it was the type of place I'd pictured in English novels, or even southern gothic romances--it had that quality of roma More...
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Jan 04, 2012
Patricia
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Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, Photographs by Christopher Payne with an Essay by Oliver Sacks. Published by MIT Press, 2009.
This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. The photographs portray stunning refuges for the insane, designed by some of the greatest architects of the last two centuries. These asylums are now crumbling, either subsiding back to earth or being torn down by developers to create apartments for supposedly normal people like More...
This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. The photographs portray stunning refuges for the insane, designed by some of the greatest architects of the last two centuries. These asylums are now crumbling, either subsiding back to earth or being torn down by developers to create apartments for supposedly normal people like More...
Dec 12, 2009
Beth
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I grew up in the shadow of Danvers State Hospital. It closed the year of my high school graduation; some in my circle of friends were prone to facetiously answering "Danvers State!" when asked where they were attending college. The place, with its looming red brick Gothic architecture, was a favorite clandestine meeting place of youth inclined to illegally imbibe--or ghost hunt--at midnight on weekends. It has not an alluring place for me. In truth, I have only been to the grounds onc
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Oct 22, 2009
Trin
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Beautiful and eerie collection of photographs of (mostly) abandoned state mental hospitals. There are two informative essays by the photographer, Christopher Payne, and one by neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, but in many ways the images speak for themselves. Payne highlights the grand, imposing edifices of these decaying institutions, their grandeur making it possible to understand how a mental asylum was once considered a great coup for a community. But it’s impossible not to also see the d
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Jun 17, 2011
Jane
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This book gives you a brief history of the evolution of state psychiatric institutions ("insane asylums") and their original purpose to provide respite and care for people with mental illnesses. As I thumbed through the brilliant photos of the former asylums in their current state; however, I was overwhelmed by the sadness and helplessness that the institutions exude. A patient poem that was written on the wall of a basement in the Augusta State Hospital in Maine is particularly poigna
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Oct 15, 2009
Barky
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The age of the state mental hospital has come and gone. Many of these enormous edifices have already been razed to make way for developers, and the remaining structures are boarded up, or only make use of portions of their once expansive rooms and grounds – a very different picture from their heyday. A 1948 census/study done by the state of Illinois found that there were 539,000 patients in mental hospitals around the country. In the 1950s there were 33,000 mental patients on Long Island alon
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Apr 23, 2010
On pages 42 and 71, you will find photographs of the Northampton State Hospital. There, when I was 16, my friends and I were threatened with arrest by police who patrolled the decrepit grounds day and night. This monstrously vast facility fascinated us, as it had others who had pried their ways inside to explore not just exam rooms still containing x-rays, mortuaries, underground tunnels, and other mysterious, otherworldly realms of the past, but also simply the time-saturated, crumbling walls.
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Feb 11, 2012
John
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Numerous other studies of abandoned asylums, both amateur and professional, have emphasized the individual patient experience in these institutions, by focusing on discarded belongings. Payne's photography, however, takes a step back to focus on the asylum on a community level. In his afterword, he talks about his admiration for the self-sustaining quality of these forgotten institutions, and Oliver Sacks' essay explains the benefits of that self-sustenance from a clinical perspective - as wel
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Sep 24, 2011
Jennifer
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I kept waiting for Christopher Payne's Asylum to turn into a horror movie. Instead,this gorgeously photographed and historically illuminating book resists the easy cheap thrill and stays firmly grounded in reality, offering insightful essays from Oliver Sacks and Payne on the history of mental health facilities and their architectural design. It would have been simple (and profitable) to make a visual version of Stolarz's Project 17, but Payne instead restores dignity to these abandoned spaces.
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Apr 27, 2010
Jennifer
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It's probably disturbing that I enjoyed this book so much. Not necessarily a book to read, though their was some text in the opening pages of the book. This one was mostly photos. I just enjoyed seeing the amazing architecture of the old buildings--and all the care that must have gone into the construction, versus how they look today--with paint peeling, etc. I also learned some interesting things about mental hospitals, in that opening chapter. Some even had their own theaters and televisi
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Apr 15, 2011
Angela
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This is just me being picky, but I would have liked this book better if it had been organized differently. I would have preferred to have a section for each hospital, so that all the pictures from one specific hospital were grouped together. I also would have liked more context, even if it just meant a brief description of each hospital, like when it was built and when it closed down. I understand that this is meant to be a purely visual book, but for me, part of what makes these buildings so in
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Dec 11, 2009
Carrie
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This book had a vert short, but informative essay about the history of American asylums and with the amazing photos the book provides, I've come to realize how beautiful these buildings are and how important they were to the people who called them home. They are not the places I always believed them to be. This book has let me see that asylums are not scary, they are actually quite sad and it is sad to think that their incredible history lays deteriorating and has been forgotten. It is a beau
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Sep 19, 2011
courtney
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unsure if it's a good or bad thing, that i find myself constantly thumbing threw the photos in awe and amazement. how truly stunning the buildings + architecture was. how carefully planned the buildings were. all while learning things i never knew - the self-sustaining nature of the mental hospitals. the reason for decline.
he truly captured beauty in a past some would like to forget. the numbers are staggering. it made me wonder where those people are now. are their lives bett More...
he truly captured beauty in a past some would like to forget. the numbers are staggering. it made me wonder where those people are now. are their lives bett More...
Nov 05, 2011
Fred
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Of all the ruins-porn photographers out there now that it's chic, Christopher Payne is the grand master (and probably among the very first on the scene) - the photographs are breathtaking and perfectly composed - clearly with a trained architect's eye to the ground glass, and the book is beautifully produced. A fantastic addition to the art & architecture library (or coffee table) of most anyone with a good eye and a penchant for ruins - also the perfect gift for hipster friends (grin).
Apr 10, 2010
Elizabeth
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This is more of a 'coffee-table' book with one big exception - the subject matter requires much more attention than the usual coffee-table book. Wonderful photographpy. The size and effort of the book makes me wonder what drew the author/photographer to this project. It caught my attention at the library on the new non-fic shelves. My attention really racheted up when I opened it up to see a picture of an asylum one of my great-great-grandmothers was a patient in. Very sobering.
Jan 23, 2011
Vanessa
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The author gathers a collection of photographs of mental hospitals that have mostly been abandoned and are now left to the elements and time. The images evoke feelings of desolation, sadness, loss, and surprisingly, admiration for some of the more noble rehabilitation efforts and the beauty of the architecture.
I was especially touched by the remnants of the residents: the suitcases left behind, the straitjackets and clothes still in decent condition, and the countless numbers of g More...
I was especially touched by the remnants of the residents: the suitcases left behind, the straitjackets and clothes still in decent condition, and the countless numbers of g More...
Oct 11, 2009
Hudak
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I'm totally biased because of my extreme fascination with mental hospitals, but seriously.. I'd give so much to be able to be Chris Payne with all that access to grounds and people involved in the system. gah. The shots were breathtaking and the essay made me think about things I never had before. I'd like to see Chris Payne rightfully receive author credit on this site, but still. epic.
Oct 10, 2011
Joel
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A beautiful book of photographs of the massive mental institutions built on the "Kirkbride plan" in the late 19th century. It showcases how the mission of the asylums (a safe haven for treatment of mental illness, as well as a place of useful work by patients) was embodied in a specific architectural style.
Jun 26, 2010
This book is a stunning collection of images--filled with lonlieness, nostalgia and decay--and I recommend it for anyone interested in the history of asylums/architecture/the evolution of the treatment of our society's mentally ill. The introduction by Oliver Sacks is not to be missed . .
Jun 30, 2011
Sarah
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I feel like showing the buildings as run-down shells with peeling paint, etc. was a cheap way to get some emotional impact. Showing them as they actually looked during their working days would have been more emotionally honest.
Feb 14, 2010
Shannon
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Absolutely amazing photos of state mental hospitals all over the country. The pictures told stories that words never could. Awesome architecture. I learned things about these hospitals that I didn't know... through photographs.
Mar 09, 2011
Athina
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This is a beautiful book of images. As a photographer myself I love the beautiful and eerie feeling of peacefulness. Truly a look in to the past of mental hospitals.
Oct 20, 2010
I covet this book. I saw the exhibit at the Clic Gallery in NYC and it was unbelievable. So much beauty and pain in these abandoned buildings.
Feb 15, 2010
Beautiful. Some of the photographs of abandoned objects looked like affecting art installations, except of course that they are much more than that.
Feb 27, 2010
Irene
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A haunting, painful book to read. The extraordinary photographs complementary to the text offer a contextual glimpse into mental hospitals, which honorably began as "asylums." The deplorable decline that transformed such havens into virtual prisons utilized to experiment with and medicate its patients into submission is very different from its dignified beginnings.
For those who found daily life overwhelming, it was an accessible, inviolable refuge and a peaceful shelter. A More...
For those who found daily life overwhelming, it was an accessible, inviolable refuge and a peaceful shelter. A More...
Nov 04, 2011
James
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Adequate background; insightful, meditative, remindful, inspiring. For me it was also a trip back to the US, as well as through the ethereal fabric of associative mind.
Nov 03, 2010
Dave
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Interesting art book. Consists only of photos taken from closed metal health institutions and therefore dead architecture.
Dec 14, 2011
Liralen
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This was...fascinating, actually, and sparked in me a brief rampage through whatever asylum-photography books I could find. The photos depict old state hospitals in various states of disrepair, often left to crumble with furnishings still in place.
I hadn't given a lot of thought to asylums prior to finding this book, but the author-photographer has clearly done his research, and he makes some very intriguing points about the way that mental hospitals have evolved. There's so much his More...
I hadn't given a lot of thought to asylums prior to finding this book, but the author-photographer has clearly done his research, and he makes some very intriguing points about the way that mental hospitals have evolved. There's so much his More...
Sep 21, 2009
Yukari
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Breathtaking! Christopher Payne is a visual poet. Love the essay by Oliver Sacks.
