Difference between revisions of "Portal:Featured Article Of The Week"

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|Title= Seacliff Lunatic Asylum
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|Title= Elgin State Hospital
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|Image= SeacliffHospital-1942.jpg
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|Image= Elgin.jpg
 
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|Body= The Central Otago Gold Rush in the 1860′s brought about a huge expansion of the Dunedin area of New Zealand. The local asylum at the time became severely overcrowded, and it became clear that another facility was necessary. In 1877, the central government supported plans to build a new farm asylum, and construction began 20 miles north of Dunedin on the eastern coast of the South Island. The dense forest provided a serene location, but the Director of the Geological Survey declared the site to be unsafe to build the asylum. The surrounding hillside was known to be unstable, and concerns were raised over what that would mean to the operation of the asylum. Despite such concerns, the building went ahead, and by 1884, all of the patients from the local asylum were transferred to Seacliff Lunatic Asylum.
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|Body= On December 28,1869, the Board of Trustees met to examine the nine plans that had been submitted from various architects for the new asylum. The Board had enlisted the aid of two prominent superintendents to act as advisers. One was Dr. Andrew McFarland, M.D., the Superintendent of the state hospital in Jacksonville. The other was Dr. Richard J. Patterson, M.D., former superintendent of state hospitals in Indianapolis, Indiana and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Interestingly, the building design of the Jacksonville hospital was largely based on that of the Indiana State Hospital, and is an example of the increasingly common practice of copying designs from one hospital for use at another.
  
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The building was designed by Robert Arthur Lawson, and it was modelled on the Scottish baronial style, which Lawson frequently used in his designs. He was also renowned for his range of work in the Gothic Revival style, and he combined both aspects to the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum. With turrets and corbles on every corner, large towers and a spire, the building contained four and a half million bricks (made from local clay.) The great central tower was 50 metres in height, and overlooked the hospital as an observation tower, in case patients attempted to riot or escape. The asylum was built initially to accommodate 500 patients and 50 members of staff, and cost £78,000 to construct.  [[Seacliff Lunatic Asylum|Click here for more...]]
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The original name of the Elgin Mental Health Facility (its current name) was The Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. The doors opened in 1872, however, construction of additional buildings continued until 1874. A rumor circulated for year, and still exists that the State of Illinois approached the City of Elgin with plans to construct a mental institution and a college and offered Elgin one or the other. As the rumor goes, Elgin took the mental institution, De Kalb took Northern Illinois University. As Elgin Historian and celebrated Elgin History author, Bill Briska points out the rumor, "...is totally false" He goes on to state that, "The state hospital was founded in 1869 and the college in 1892. (there are) No connection between the events".  [[Elgin State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:12, 3 July 2022

Featured Article Of The Week

Elgin State Hospital


Elgin.jpg

On December 28,1869, the Board of Trustees met to examine the nine plans that had been submitted from various architects for the new asylum. The Board had enlisted the aid of two prominent superintendents to act as advisers. One was Dr. Andrew McFarland, M.D., the Superintendent of the state hospital in Jacksonville. The other was Dr. Richard J. Patterson, M.D., former superintendent of state hospitals in Indianapolis, Indiana and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Interestingly, the building design of the Jacksonville hospital was largely based on that of the Indiana State Hospital, and is an example of the increasingly common practice of copying designs from one hospital for use at another.

The original name of the Elgin Mental Health Facility (its current name) was The Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. The doors opened in 1872, however, construction of additional buildings continued until 1874. A rumor circulated for year, and still exists that the State of Illinois approached the City of Elgin with plans to construct a mental institution and a college and offered Elgin one or the other. As the rumor goes, Elgin took the mental institution, De Kalb took Northern Illinois University. As Elgin Historian and celebrated Elgin History author, Bill Briska points out the rumor, "...is totally false" He goes on to state that, "The state hospital was founded in 1869 and the college in 1892. (there are) No connection between the events". Click here for more...

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