Tom Jensen (@vikinglife)

The Maine Insane Hospital, later the Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI), was a psychiatric hospital in Augusta, Maine. It was the principal facility for the care and treatment of Maine's mentally ill from 1840 to 2004, and its surviving buildings represent the oldest surviving complex of mental care facilities in the United States. The complex is located on the east bank of the Kennebec River, immediately south of the former Kennebec Arsenal, and now primarily houses state offices. In 2004, the hospital was replaced by the Riverview Psychiatric Center, located just to the south. The hospital's core complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, with the listing enlarged to encompass the entire campus in 2001. Numerous buildings and new wings were added over the years to the Hospital campus. By 1920, the total area of the hospital property, including the farm and grounds, was approximately 600 acres, of which 450 acres were under cultivation. Patients worked on the farm and in the laundry. The buildings are reflective of changing trends in the treatment of the mentally ill over that period of time. The oldest portions of the complex are known as the Administration and Stone Buildings. Now at the center of a series of connected buildings, they were built in 1836–40 to a design by Hallowell architect John Lord. To these were added stepped wings (in keeping with the then fashionable Kirkbride Plan) in the 1850s and 1860s; these were designed by Francis H. Fassett, with later alterations designed by George M. Coombs. In the 1880s, when "pavilion housing" prevailed as the preferred method for housing the mentally ill, a number of smaller outlying buildings were added, based on a master plan developed by Francis Fassett in the 1870s. The pavilion housing plan proved uneconomical for the large numbers of patients, and dormitory-style buildings were built, combining patient wings, housing for workers, and an administrative hub. The campus also includes a number of utilititarian service buildings, and was landscaped to provide an attractive environment to the patients. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Mental_Health_Institute #Architecture #USA #InsaneAsylum #Augusta #Maine #NewEngland