This building holds a special place in my heart and my wallet. I was employed at and retired from this hospital, a state psychiatric hospital. I actually worked in this building from 1975 - 1983, and again from 2000 until my retirement in 2013. During the other years, I worked in buildings on either side and behind this building. This building was called Center Building when I came to work there and changed to Avery Building later in my tenure. The building was designed using the Kirkbride plan.
The hospital has been rebuilt on property beside this, and this building is no longer in use for patient care.
If you've a mind to read further information on the hospital, you may be interested on the following links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_Hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkbride_Plan
What an interesting and grand looking building. Many psychiatric hospitals in this country had a similar look but most have now closed.
Also interesting supporting information.
I spent the first 10 years of my life living in a village called Broughton and still have friends and family there.
@casablanca Thank you. I've toured the new hospital and it's more modern and streamlined. What I really liked about was the light. Old buildings like the one in the photo can be dark and shadowy, despite those big windows. There were a lot of safety concerns that limited the use of the old buildings. So while the old was pretty the new is probably better, although it will never last as long. @wakelys A lot of this style building has been closed. Not really efficient and some of the facilities had terrible, terrible actions take place inside. When I left there were plans for repurposing the building. I'm not sure that I knew there was a place in the UK called Broughton. Interesting that you spent time there. You're a long way from home. @haskar Thank you Hannah. Yes I did work there a long time. I retired because I could but I didn't enjoy it like I did when I started. @30pics4jackiesdiamond Thank you Jackie. I recently acquired the lens I used which made it much easier to get as much of the building as I did. @shutterbug49 Thank you Debbie. Yes, I always thought it was a beautiful building. I hope it isn't torn down anytime soon and that it can be useful for something. @pyrrhula Thank you Ferry. @corinnec Thank yo Corinne. I hope they chose to maintain it with an eye on a second use. @olivetreeann Thanks Ann. It is a part of my history. @Dawn Thank you Dawn. @grammyn Thank you Katy. I'm glad you were interested enough to check out the links. @kwind It's huge Kim. The fron only shows 1 set of "wings" Two more take off from the end of the first one. Unable to get a shot that would capture it all. That would have to be done from the air. @kjarn Thank you Kathy. It certainly could tell some tales. @pusspup They gave up landscaping when before I left. Probably didn't have the money - isn't that usually the excuse? The garden at the foot of the steps was filled with roses when I started working there. @craftymeg Thanks very much Meg. Glad you enjoyed it.
Great wide shot of the building. Thank you for the info on your personal history there. Impressive! It’s not as common these days as in the past for a person to have worked 38+ years for the same employer. Thanks also, for the links to the history of the hospital. Very interesting! Especially, as someone else mentioned, the information about the cemetery. Those in charge then should be commended for the care they took with burials and burial records.
I’ve been looking back through your get pushed challenges of the past. With this photo in mind, how about doing a flat lay of mementos from some part of your life? It could be (but doesn’t have to be) your professional career. Other possibilities: your childhood, your school days (any era), your family history, your married years, etc etc.
@johnfalconer dNot sure of its condition now since I haven't been in it for 10 years, but I do think they might be keeping it up enough to put something else in there. But I haven't heard anything definite.
@lesip Old days they were more inclined to build buildings to last and this one, in the Kirkbride style, was thought to be good for the psychiatric patients.
@skipt07 Back when they were packing them in (some of the big rooms at the end of the wings (not seen in this photo) had 8 people in one room early on while I worked there.The campus had more buildings. But consider that we got patients from pretty much the entire Western part of North Carolina. It needed to be big. Of course all that changed.
February 7th, 2023
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Also interesting supporting information.
I spent the first 10 years of my life living in a village called Broughton and still have friends and family there.
You have done a marvelous job of captuiring the symmetry of the building which looks to be still in good shape
@wakelys A lot of this style building has been closed. Not really efficient and some of the facilities had terrible, terrible actions take place inside. When I left there were plans for repurposing the building. I'm not sure that I knew there was a place in the UK called Broughton. Interesting that you spent time there. You're a long way from home.
@haskar Thank you Hannah. Yes I did work there a long time. I retired because I could but I didn't enjoy it like I did when I started.
@30pics4jackiesdiamond Thank you Jackie. I recently acquired the lens I used which made it much easier to get as much of the building as I did.
@shutterbug49 Thank you Debbie. Yes, I always thought it was a beautiful building. I hope it isn't torn down anytime soon and that it can be useful for something.
@pyrrhula Thank you Ferry.
@corinnec Thank yo Corinne. I hope they chose to maintain it with an eye on a second use.
@olivetreeann Thanks Ann. It is a part of my history.
@Dawn Thank you Dawn.
@grammyn Thank you Katy. I'm glad you were interested enough to check out the links.
@kwind It's huge Kim. The fron only shows 1 set of "wings" Two more take off from the end of the first one. Unable to get a shot that would capture it all. That would have to be done from the air.
@kjarn Thank you Kathy. It certainly could tell some tales.
@pusspup They gave up landscaping when before I left. Probably didn't have the money - isn't that usually the excuse? The garden at the foot of the steps was filled with roses when I started working there.
@craftymeg Thanks very much Meg. Glad you enjoyed it.
I’ve been looking back through your get pushed challenges of the past. With this photo in mind, how about doing a flat lay of mementos from some part of your life? It could be (but doesn’t have to be) your professional career. Other possibilities: your childhood, your school days (any era), your family history, your married years, etc etc.