Photo: "Admin Building, Hudson River Psychiatric"

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I have wandered the lonely collapsed halls of the former Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital many times, but until last month, I had never seen the Administration Building from this perspective. Standing in front of this historic grand architecture watching the moon rise was really magical.

This gorgeous building was completed in 1871, on a piece of land along the river in Poughkeepsie, New York. Most Kirkbride buildings were constructed with symmetrical wings, but this hospital was not, because there was an expectation that more male patients would be submitted than female. 

The campus operated for over one hundred years before closing in 2003. The campus not sits abandoned, mostly collapsed from years of neglect and a major fire in the male wing in 2007. 

Photo: Corridor, Central State Hospital

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Central State Hospital, Georgia

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Photo: "Out of Ideas"

Lightbulb hangs in a patient room of a former psychiatric hospital in Virginia. 

Photo: "Your Calls"

After this Virginia psychiatric facility closed in the 1950's, portions of the campus were repurposed to be used as a correctional facility.

This particular building was used to house inmates. Here you can see a black box where a telephone was once mounted. The description reads: "Notice Your calls are monitored and recorded. By using the inmate telephone system you consent to the monitoring and recording of your telephone calls." 

Photo: "Hospital Bowling Alley"

This psychiatric hospital opened in 1931 in the suburbs of New York as a way for patients to escape the pollution and noise of the city. It contained a bowling alley, theatre and power plant which helped the complex operate as its own independent complex. The hospital remains in operation, though many of the buildings have been abandoned for years. 

Photo: "Patient View"

Dawn inside a patient room in the former tuberculosis ward of Mayview State Hospital, PA. 

Photo: "Connector"

Corridor inside Building South 2 or Mayview State Hospital at dusk.

Photo: "Dusk to Dawn"

Blue hour inside a day room of Building F, a former tuberculosis ward, at Mayview State Hospital. 

Mayview State Hospital was constructed in 1892 and it wasn't until 7 years later that a first physician was assigned to the "insane" department. In 1909, a hospital was built on the grounds, stemming from the need to treat the patients there due to mental illness. The hospital's last building closed in 2008 and demolition began in the spring of 2012. 

Photo: "Morgue Table"

This New York psychiatric hospital opened to the public in 1931 with 60 only male patients, though they had beds to support over 5,000. The hospital was designed as a "theraputic suburb," where patients could leave the noise and pollution of the city and seek treatments to cure their illness. By 1959, the hospital reached it peak and was home to 9,000 residents, including a staff of 2,000.  

Photo: "Shambles"

Inside this patient and treatment building at a Pennsylvania State Psychiatric Hospital, there are large holes in the walls and bent bed frames due to fire department exercises that took place after the building closed in the 1960's. 

Photo: "Lucky 13"

Left over bowling shoes in a now abandoned bowling alley that was once part of a New York psychiatric hospital.

Photo: "Sleep Walking"

Hallway inside Bldg 17, a patient treatment and housing building, abandoned in the 1960's, at a Pennsylvania state psychiatric hospital. 

Photo: "Moss Wash"

Private bathroom inside building 14, a medium security ward at a Pennsylvania State Hospital founded in the 1880's. 

Photo: "Fire Light"

Some of the walls of this room in Building 14 were charred and portions of the ceiling collapsed. It appears as though this building at a Pennsylvania psychiatric hospital experienced a small fire sometime after it was abandoned. 

Photo: "Nurses Station"

Nurses station in Building 17 at a Pennsylvania State Psychiatric Hospital. The hospital was designed by Wilson Brothers and Company between 1878-1880 and was the first institution in the United States to recognized female physicians.