Classics at the Asylum

[k5083]

<p>The pace of demolition of the old buildings accelerated in the 2000s, and many of the surviving buildings likely will not be around much longer.</p>

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[k5083]

<p>In the center of the facility was an open recreational area, including a golf course that is still in use as such by the town. This ruined grandstand was built behind home plate of a long-gone baseball diamond. I have read that the upper structure was built from rails salvaged from one of the railroad spurs that used to cross the asylum grounds.</p>

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[k5083]

<p>The most obscure and inaccessible part of the asylum was the old cemetery. Mental illness was not often cured in the early and mid twentieth century, and many patients never left the facility. The grounds where they are buried, squeezed between the federal courthouse and a law school in a corner of the former asylum property, bears many no-trespassing signs but no external indication of what it is, and is surrounded by a fence topped by barbed wire along which especially thorny bushes have been encouraged to grow. The authorities really don't want you to know this place exists; it took some research to figure out where it was, and it was hazardous just getting to the fence to poke my Olympus through it. No grave markers are really visible, although the pattern of graves can be seen from the upper floor windows of the adjacent courthouse. From what I have read, most markers were small to begin with and are overgrown. Most graves are not identified with a name, just an ID number. The one prominent monument to all the interred, an obelisk erected in 1910, is in the center of the cemetery and can be seen from the fence, but I was not able to get a clean photo of it.</p>

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[k5083]

<p>A number of galleries of photos of the Central Islip facility, including the interiors of many of the buildings and the cemetery, have been put up by adventurous photographers who have learned to disregard no-trespassing signs. Many of their images are fascinating, but that type of thing isn't my style. What I did experience of the facility was enough to open my eyes to a new aspect of Long Island history that is fast disappearing, and to make me reflect in both thought and photographs on some of the secrets of the places where we work and live.</p>

[cliffmanley]

<p>Through your pictures, I hear the moans and screams of those poor people. That must bee kind of a creepy place to visit.</p>

[Andrew in Austin]

<p>The State Hospital where I live is on land so valuable that much of it has been redeveloped into a shopping center with condominiums and heart hospital on the old grounds. Some of it is still used as detention center for alcohol rehab. Most of its former tenants now live on our streets.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

A few years ago I read that German archives from WW II included aerial photos of New York harbor showing the liner Normandie being overhauled at its dock. The source of the image was not mentioned and maybe not known. It could have been from a German plane or a US photo which was smuggled out to the Germans. So there may have been a need for spotters on the roof of he hospital.

[JDMvW]

<p>Fascinating.</p>

<p>I think this site was shown in one episode of History Channel's "<a href="http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people">Life after People</a>" series as an example of how buildings deteriorate without human maintenance.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

<p>Wow you sure got around that huge campus. I liked your point about building decaying without be vandalized. I also noted your commentary about being abandoned twice... but what was nice to see were those rehabuiltated buildings in use. This is the only way to preserve them is to find a use for them. Nice mix of cameras and films. Impressed with the depth of the color exposures of the Yashicaflex! Also like the admin building in TMAX! Lovely photos and excellent use of your classics!!</p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>What an awesome presentation. Having worked in the field of Mental Health for 15 years and now in the field of Developmental Disabilities for 10 more, places like these are always of interest both for their historical value and for what they say about some aspects of the state of the field now. These are excellent photographs and your narrative is also superb. I feel as though I've just read an authoritative book on the subject. Thanks very much for posting this, August.</p>

[gabor_szabo3]

<p>Yes, lovely photo essay, August; well done !</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>So just what are you getting at August?<br>

Psychiatric Hospital.....Classic Cameras? Coincidence? I think not! :)</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Creepy......cool.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Graphic excellence, with an informative and sensitive essay. Great work, and a somber reminder of our not-to-distant past...</p>

[User_502260]

<p>These photos remind me of some of Gene M's shots of abandoned buildings in MA.</p>

[james_kennedy9]

<p>August,<br>

I used to work for Boeing on the B-1B Bomber and one of the Associate contractors was AIL and their facility was near Commack on Long Island. When I drove to the site, I would pass some abandoned mental hospitals that looked like the Addams famil lived there.<br>

Were you anywhere near Commack?</p>

[ken_jeanette1]

<p>Mourn the tortured souls who passed through those halls, Cry for those who don't have that refuge today.</p>

[jamesmck]

<p>I was born in Central Islip and lived there until about 1953, and I can tell you that CISH (aka "the hospital") was the absolute center of the town's existence. Almost everyone worked there. It was like a company town. As a kid I used to attend baseball games at the stadium mentioned, and on Saturday mornings all the CI kids went to movies shown in Robbins Hall (which also had a bowling alley in the basement, used mostly by employees). Many of us were on very friendly terms with patients. The directors residence was known as "the big house" and the Director himself was the most envied person in town. It was really a community within a community. Had its own police force and fire department, vegetable and cattle farms, cemetery, and even its own "dump" (where we used to go for target practice shooting rats).</p>

<p>My Grandfather was a stone mason and worked in the construction of many new buildings on the grounds. The photo below shows him and companions in front of a work in progress (he is front row, all the way on the right). I estimate this to be from about 1905.<br>

<img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/jamesmck/CISH/CISH-1905-700.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[k5083]

<p>Thanks everyone for the kind comments and to James McK especially for the insights and photo. The workmanship on the hospital buildings is very evident even today. Robbins Hall is still there, looking worn but in reasonable shape. It is hard to tell whether it is in use at all. Unfortunately my photo of it fell victim to an inadvertent double exposure.</p>

<p>James K, Commack is about 5 miles from Central Islip so I suppose this was the hospital you passed. If it was two or three decades ago, there would have been many more original buildings standing then.</p>

<p>As several of you noted, the history of this place lends it a good deal of power. I found that this influenced my photographic approach to be more formal and literal than usual. The place spoke so well for itself that it seemed to demand only to be documented, and resisted being tampered with by funky abstractions and clever angles. I was favored by perfect conditions, most especially the time of year. Spring had not quite come to Long Island, and the bare trees contributed to the effect I was looking for. There was also a lot of bleak lighting. One Sunday when I was driving back out to Islip for another week of trial, I was thinking of going back to the site but the day was too sunny and fine. Then, just as I approached the town at around 3:00 pm, a bank of haze rolled in and created the most muted, dismal hazy-8 lighting that one could wish for. I hustled out to the site and made some of the better images that day.</p>

<p>All in all, this was an experience that will stay with me for a while.</p>

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[ralf_j.]

<p>Wonderful commentary, I really enjoyed reading it and the illustration.</p>

[rustys pics]

<p>Impressive work and photos. August you've done well to preserve the old structures in photograhps....hope to see more of this series.</p>

[sw12dz]

<p>August,</p>

<p>This was an excellent pictorial! Thanks for sharing.</p>

[Rick_van_Nooij]

<p>Great historical background commentary and some wonderful images, August.</p>

<p>I can imagine what it felt like wondering between these old buildings and the lingering memories of what purpose they once served.<br>

I'm sure it would have been worse seeing them from the inside.<br>

There was a computer game a few years ago called 'Painkiller' where the player was dropped into a haunted asylum. That really creeped me out. Like the remake of the movie "The House on Haunted Hill"</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for sharing!</p>

 

[jamesmck]

<p>August - In my excitement to respond to your excellent essay, I neglected to compliment you on it. Very, very well done. There were also state hospitals in Brentwood (Pilgrim State Hospital) and Kings Park, but not as big as CI. Either of these might be what James K. refers to. One point of possible interest is that the African-American artist <a href="http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=2486">William H. Johnson</a> was a patient at CISH from 1947 until his death there in 1970.</p>

[bob_miller4]

<p>The old hilltop Seaview Hospital on Staten Island has photo opportunities galore but some areas may be hazardous because of the decay of the buildings. Find various articles and photos using Google, etc.</p>

<p>A detailed description of the hospital site:<br /> http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/NEW_YORK_CITY_FARM_COLONY-_SEAVIEW_HOSPITAL_HISTORIC_DISTRICT.pdf</p>

<p>Some of the site has been restored or redeveloped since the above report was issued.</p>