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PreservationWorks

  • Project: PreservationWorks
  • Date: 2014-present
  • Photography: Robert Kirkbride, Jacob Tellers, Christian VanAntwerpen, Crystal VanAntwerpen

By chance and fate, I am Spokesperson and a founding Trustee for PreservationWorks, a national advocacy organization of like-minded preservationists, urban explorers and concerned citizens committed to the preservation and adaptive reuse of Kirkbride Plan Hospitals. We share knowledge and resources that support local preservation efforts and educate the public on their historical and global significance. The design and layout of these egalitarian structures for the insane embodied the philosophy of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809-83) and the Enlightenment belief in the restorative influences of a beautiful built environment on mental well-being. In addition to my fascination with the mutual influences of cognition and design, I am related to Thomas Story Kirkbride, creator of the Kirkbride Plan and a founder of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, a precursor to the American Psychiatric Association. Adaptive reuse of these magnificent buildings is commonsense and achievable, strengthening economic growth and cultural identity in their respective communities.

For updates on PreservationWorks-related activities and projects, please visit my new blog on the PW website, Kirkbride on Kirkbrides.

Media + Interviews

GREYSTONE ORAL HISTORIES PROJECT

“Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital Oral History Project,” interviewed by Stephanie Kip about Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital (1876-2008) for the Oral History Project (Site relaunch January 2022)

MYSTERIES OF MENTAL ILLNESS

“The Rise and Fall of the Asylum,” interviewed about Kirkbride Plan psychiatric hospitals as “featured expert” for Episode 3 of the four-part PBS Documentary series on mental illness, produced by Pangloss Films (June 23, 2021)

A PUBLIC SPACE

“The Syntax of Space,” interviewed by Mark Hage about Kirkbride Plan psychiatric hospitals for Issue 29 of A Public Space journal, edited by Brigid Hughes. Available in print and online (December 2020)

ATHENS MESSENGER

“Original Athens Asylum Building Shows Design Influences” by Steve Robb, p. A1 (June 27, 2018)

WOUB DIGITAL RADIO

“Kirkbride on Kirkbride: The Legacy of Historic Architecture,” interviewed by Tom O’Grady for Conversations with Radio B, Ohio University (June 22, 2018; posted July 3, 2018)

RICHMOND MAGAZINE

“14 Years in the Making” by Susan J. Winiecki (June 20, 2018)

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO

“Fate of Fergus Falls Hospital Splits Community,” interviewed by Dan Gunderson (March 8, 2018)

PRESERVATIONWORKS.ORG

Launch of PreservationWorks website with my personal blog, Kirkbride on Kirkbrides.

PACIFIC STANDARD

“Can We Repurpose More Old Mental Hospitals?” by Mimi Kirk (December 28, 2017)
(Photo credit: Danvers State Hospital, Massachusetts; Wikimedia Commons)

THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE

“Of Beneficent Buildings and Bedside Manners” by JoAnn Greco (December 19, 2017)

NJSAA’S AUTHOR AWARD FOR POPULAR NON-FICTION (WITH RUSTY TAGLIARENI AND CHRISTINA MATHEWS)

The Daily Targum (Rutger’s University paper) article “Academic Alliance Hosts Award Panel for Excellence in NJ-based Literature” by Ryan Stiesi (December 8, 2017) (photo credit: Casey Ambrosio)

CITYLAB LATINO

¿Vivirías en un manicomio? Así están renovando los antiguos hospitales psiquiátricos” by Mimi Kirk (November 17, 2017)

CITYLAB

“What Should We Do With Abandoned ‘Insane Asylums?’” by Mimi Kirk describes efforts aimed toward the adaptive reuse of 19th-century mental hospitals (November 8, 2017)

BIZNOW NATIONAL

“Abandoned 19th-Century Insane Asylums to Get a New Lease on Life” by Lara O’Keefe (November 8, 2017)
(photo credit: “East Wing” by Forsaken Fotos, Flickr)

GHOSTLAND

“The Stain,” chapter from Colin Dickey’s Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places (Viking, 2016), which focuses on Kirkbride Plan Hospitals for the Insane and includes excerpts from Colin’s interview of me. (retrieved 3.4.2017)

NJ.COM

“Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital Remembered 1 Year After Demolition,” Robert Sciarrino, NJ.post, 10.23.2016

DAILY RECORD

“Greystone Panel, documentary on tap at Parsippany Library,” William Westhoven, Daily Record, 10.21.2016

THE STAR-LEDGER

“Panel to discuss Greystone,” Greg Hatala, The Star-Ledger, 10.13.2016

DAILY RECORD

“New Book Captures Rise and Fall of Greystone,” Review of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Daily Record, William Westhoven, 7/16/16

THE VILLAGE VOICE

“The Lovely Bones: Renovating the Kirkbride Asylums Means Finding New Ways to Live With Old Ghosts,” Danny Penny, 4.6.2016

GREYSTONE RISING

Greystone Rising, 2016 (Jody Johnson, film; Lisa Marie Blohm, editing; Christina Mathews, sound): voiceover excerpts from “Greystone’s Last Stand,” Rusty Tagliareni and Christina Mathews. Received “Best in Category” for Architecture in the 2016 New York City Drone Film Festival (judged by Bjarke Ingels)

Newsweek

“Saving Bedlam: The Effort to Preserve the Country's Historic Mental Hospitals,” Dan Hurley, Newsweek (January 22, 2016)

Fergus Falls Journal

“’These are our castles’: Relative of asylum designer pays visit to Fergus Falls,” Jacob Tellers, Fergus Falls Journal (Cover story) (September 21, 2015)

MorristownGreen.com

“Opponents of Greystone demolition question safety procedures,” by Kevin Couglin (June 1, 2015)

Fergus Falls Journal

“Kirkbride conference inspires local preservation efforts,” Fergus Falls Journal (May 18, 2015)

MORRISTOWNGREEN.COM

“Greystone supporters gather in Morristown ahead of April 6 demolition,” Adam McGovern, MorristownGreen.com 4.2.2015

GREYSTONE’S LAST STAND

“Greystone’s Last Stand” – extended 15 minute trailer for a longer documentary produced by Rusty Tagliareni and Christina Mathews of Antiquity Echoes. Featuring an interview (at 6:40 – 8:00) on the cultural and architectural significance of preserving Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, in Morristown, NJ, built on the Kirkbride Plan in 1876 and demolished in 2015. 8.1.2014

Lectures

2019

Parsons School of Constructed Environments

  • Spring 2019 Parsons SCE Public Programs
  • A Tale of Two Asylums: the Fall of Greystone and Rise of the Richardson Olmsted Campus
  • March 28

2018

Southeast Ohio History Center and Ohio Humanities

  • Athens Asylum Sesquicentennial Speaker Series, Ohio University
  • ”The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane”
  • Lecture with site visit to protect the Athens Lunatic Asylum (The Ridges)
  • June 23

2018

Otter Tail County Historical Society, Fergus Falls, Minnesota

2018

Roosevelt Island Historical Commission, New York City

  • ”The Many Phantoms of the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane”
  • Lecture Series co-sponsored with New York Public Libraries
  • April 12

2018

The New School, New York City

2018

The New School, New York City

  • “Bedside Manners at the Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane” and panel conversation with co-presenters Jonathan Crary and Kenton Kroker
  • Part of panel Sleeping Bodies: Observation, Calibration and Control, New York City Short talk and conversation with co-presenters Jonathan Crary and Kenton Kroker
  • February 22

2017

APT (Architecture Practice Talks) Series

2017

Columbia University

2017

National Building Museum

2017

Glasgow, Scotland

  • Society of Architectural Historians 2017 International Conference
  • The Phantoms of Kirkbride Hospitals of the Insane
  • Session, “Architectural Ghosts”
  • June 7-11

2016

The New School, New York City

  • Forgetting
  • New Talks Faculty Lecture Series, inaugural event
  • November 10

2016

Parsippany Public Library: Parsippany, NJ

  • Greystone Remembered
  • With book launch for Greystone State Park Asylum
  • Lectures + Panel conversation
  • October 22

2016

Morbid Anatomy Museum: Brooklyn, NY

  • Book release: Greystone State Park Asylum
  • Panel conversation + video screening
  • With: Rusty Tagliareni, Christina Mathews, Yvonne Laube
  • September 19

2016

Morbid Anatomy Museum: Brooklyn, NY

  • Kirkbride Hospitals for the Insane: Then, Now and ?
  • March 30

2015

Fergus Falls Kirkbride Conference

  • Fergus Falls Kirkbride Conference: Fergus Falls, MN (INVITED)
  • Toward an Architecture of Well-being: The Castle on the Hill
  • September 17-20

2015

#Preservationworks Conference

  • #Preservationworks Conference: Traverse City, MI (INVITED)
  • Historic Asylum Preservation Conference
  • Toward an Architecture of Well-being: Appreciating the Kirkbride Plan
  • April 25

Awards

2017

New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Author Award For Popular Non-Fiction

Projects