The Roosevelt Island Historical Society invites you to the First 2018 Spring Lecture:

 

Greystone Park Psychiatric
Hospital in Mourning.

The Roosevelt Island Historical Society invites you to the first Spring Lecture:

The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane

at the New York Public Library Branch on Roosevelt Island

Thursday, April 12 at 6:30 p.m.

How many ghosts can haunt a building at once? When the building at question is one of the 34 remaining Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane, which share the burden of a troubled and tragic past, the answer is not simple. There are many ghosts, of various sorts. Despite the noble intent of their creators and generosity of their designs, the asylums often devolved into horrifying dystopias, and given their stigmatizing histories, they are easy targets for demolition. Yet there is a passionate and growing network of preservationists, urban explorers and paranormalists committed to preserving Kirkbride Hospitals.

In this talk, Dr. Robert Kirkbride (pictured above), Dean of Parsons School of Constructed Environments, will underscore the importance of decoupling the physical asylums from their phantoms to promote adaptive reuse rather than repressive and wasteful erasure. He will also illustrate how to resuscitate these remarkable structures, which offer tangible lessons of architectural know-how, sustainability and embodied energy.

The event is FREE and open to the public. It is the first in the Society’s annual series of spring lectures.

DIRECTIONS: Take the Tram at 59th Street and Second Avenue or the F train to Roosevelt Island. Take the red bus (no charge) or walk eight minutes north to 524 Main Street.

The Roosevelt Island Historical Society promotes awareness of the Island’s unique story and pursues preservation of its landmarks and artifacts. 

Photo Caption: Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Mourning. Credit: Courtesy of the collections of the North Jersey History Center, the Morristown and Morris Township Library.

 

This lecture is made possible with the support of: