Architecture, Landscape, and American Culture
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The Architecture of Madness Architecture, Landscape, and American Culture SERIES EDITOR Katherine Solomonson UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890–1960 Abigail A. Van Slyck The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States Carla Yanni The Architecture of Madness Insane Asylums in the United States Carla Yanni ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, AND AMERICAN CULTURE University of Minnesota Press MINNEAPOLIS • LONDON Published in cooperation with the Center for American Places, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Staunton, Virginia. www.americanplaces.org. This book is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. The author and the University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledge the support of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the University Research Council of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in the publication of this book. An earlier version of chapter 2 was previously published as “The Linear Plan for Insane Asylums in the United States to 1866,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 62, no. 1 (March 2003). Reprinted with permission of the Society of Architectural Historians. The architectural plans in Appendix D were redrawn by Kevin Bell. Copyright 2007 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yanni, Carla. The architecture of madness : insane asylums in the United States / Carla Yanni. p. cm. — (Architecture, landscape, and American culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-4939-6 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8166-4940-2 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Asylums—United States—Design and construction— History. 2. Psychiatric hospitals—United States—Design and construction— History. 3. Hospital architecture—United States—History. I. Title. RC445.Y36 2007 725´.520973—dc22 2007003766 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my mother, Joan K. Yanni, the docent with the mocent This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Transforming the Treatment 17 ARCHITECTURE AND MORAL MANAGEMENT 2. Establishing the Type 51 THE DEVELOPMENT OF KIRKBRIDE PLAN HOSPITALS AND HOPE FOR AN ARCHITECTURAL CURE 3. Breaking Down 79 THE COTTAGE PLAN FOR ASYLUMS 4. Building Up 105 HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR Conclusion 145 THE CHANGING SPACES OF MENTAL ILLNESS APPENDIX A. NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY 161 APPENDIX B. OCCUPATIONS OF PATIENTS IN 1850 163 APPENDIX C. COST OF LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN 1877 165 APPENDIX D. COMPARATIVE SIZES OF ASYLUMS, 1770–1872 166 Notes 169 Bibliography 179 Index 187 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments rchitectural historian Joseph Siry suggested I write and we were on the edges of our chairs. The other par- Amy undergraduate honors thesis at Wesleyan Uni- ticipants were wonderfully responsive, Sarah Ruther- versity on H. H. Richardson’s Buffalo State Hospital ford, Jane Kromm, and Christine Stevenson, especially. for the Insane. An unusually dedicated thesis supervi- Jeanne Kisacky’s research on hospital architecture has sor, he learned that I had been raised in Rochester, helped me understand the key issues of ventilation and New York, near Buffalo, and that I was interested in access to nature. social history and science. When I went to graduate Annmarie Adams lavished attention on an early draft school at the University of Pennsylvania from 1988 to about the linear plan; my writing on this topic would 1994, I dropped the subject entirely, perhaps because I be far less nuanced without her care. I thank the Soci- felt overwhelmed by its grimness. But I maintained an ety of Architectural Historians for permission to re- interest in science and architecture, and I pursued these produce parts of an article published in the Journal of interrelated endeavors in my first book on the architec- the Society of Architectural Historians in chapter 2. Car- ture of natural history museums. The towers of Buffalo oline Elam read a draft of chapters 3 and 4, and Anne still loomed in my memory, and I was happy to return Cotterill cast her knowing eyes over the introduction. to the subject for this, my second book. Therese O’Malley kindly offered her knowledge of land- I have received generous intellectual guidance from scape history. Cynthia Field encouraged me to rent a titans in the history and sociology of medicine. Gerald flat in her home, from which we shared many delight- Grob’s enthusiasm for the project meant a great deal ful conversations about buildings and cats. Robert Woz- to me; readers will find frequent notes to a selected niak read early drafts and allowed me to peruse his few of his twenty-odd books on the history of medi- extraordinary collection of one thousand postcards of cine. Andrew Scull read drafts of two chapters, and his insane asylums in the United States; it was a pleasure advice helped me shore up the chapters that were most to view this wonderful repository in the company of dependent on detailed knowledge of psychiatry in the his friendly golden retriever. Maureen Meister, Jeffrey nineteenth century. I thank Leslie Topp and Jonathan Ochsner, and Frank Kowsky helped me understand the Andrews for inviting me to speak at “Space, Psyche, and smaller points of H. H. Richardson’s most massive build- Psychiatry,” the best conference I have ever attended; it ing. I thank the anonymous reviewer for the Center for was a symposium designed with one session taking place American Places and James E. Moran, who generously at a time, so that all speakers were present at every talk, reviewed my book for the University of Minnesota Press. :: ix :: :: x :: Acknowledgments Kate Solomonson was a thought-provoking series edi- As always, my family has been supportive in every tor who guided my revisions in the final stages. possible way, especially my brother Mark, who traveled The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in with me to asylums in Tennessee, Alabama, and Illi- the Fine Arts supported the book through a subvention nois. We explored graveyards and barbecue joints, and grant, and Rutgers Research Council and the Faculty he served as my all-time best research assistant. Back of Arts and Sciences matched the Graham Founda- at home, he offered long-distance photographic assis- tion’s generosity. I owe a large debt of gratitude to the tance. My sister Barbara is always ready for an archi- Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the tectural adventure; my sister Palma introduced me National Gallery of Art, where I spent an academic to Dr. Theo Postolache, who invited me to St. Eliza- year. Although my subject did not overlap with that of beths, the first working psychiatric hospital I ever saw. anyone else, I learned a great deal from my fellow Dennis Albert worked magic with Photoshop. My scholars. I am certain that so many books on lunacy mother and father were curious, if dubious, about the had never before darkened the doorstep of the CASVA unglamorous subject. After reading one chapter, my interlibrary loan office; the librarians were puzzled but mother, the kind of person who does not like sad endlessly helpful. While in Washington, D.C., I had the movies, chirped, “How nice, I thought it would be more honor of sharing my ideas with Richard Longstreth, depressing.” whose breadth of knowledge of nineteenth-century Bill Winfrey is an intrepid architectural tourist who buildings and cities aided the development of several nearly dragged me over the fence of Charenton before chapters. I also had the pleasure of meeting E. Fuller we realized it was easier to walk through the front gate. Torrey, a research psychiatrist, and I wish him well in He also bounded with me along the streets of Gheel, his passionate search for the biological causes of men- as he bounds through life generally. I would like to tal illness. thank his wonderful daughter, Moon, just for being My friends and colleagues aided me along this jour- herself. ney. I thank Gregory Olsen, whose generous donations In the course of my research I have used many to the Rutgers Art History Department made much of libraries and rare book collections, too many to list here. this work possible and paid for the computer on which All the librarians and archivists who made my acquain- I am currently typing. Sarah Brett-Smith, Jeff Cohen, tance were helpful, especially Tony Mullin at the Library Emily Cooperman, Sandra Markham, and Susan Solo- of Congress, Stephen Greenberg at the National Library mon all acted as sounding boards. Alison Isenberg has of Medicine, and the tireless Diane Richardson at been a particularly great friend and colleague. Stephen Oskar Diethelm. I also visited about twenty psychiatric Mirra, Peter Konin, and Angela Leone Konin, gradu- facilities or related sites, including institutions in Kan- ates of Rutgers’s Art History Department, assisted me kakee, Illinois; Peoria, Illinois; Bolivar, Tennessee; Tus- ably. Brian Clancy began as my Ph.D. student and has caloosa, Alabama; Poughkeepsie, New York; Buffalo, emerged as my most demanding and delightful editor. New York; Binghamton, New York; Trenton, New The students in two seminars on public architecture at Jersey; Greystone, New Jersey; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Rutgers University also spurred me to new conclusions.