Kirkbride Building

Kirkbride Building

Other names: Bloomingdale Asylum, Worcester Lunatic Asylum

Buildings, hospitals

In 1833, the Worcester Lunatic Asylum became the first psychiatric facility of its kind in Massachusetts. It was originally used as a shelter for the insane but quickly became overcrowded. Forced to expand its size, the asylum called in Ward P. Delano in 1870 to build what was known as the four leveled Kirkbride building, shown in the picture, famous for its high clock tower. By 1877, at the completion of the new buildings, the facility found its new name as the Worcester State Hospital. The Hospital remained in use until 1991, when a large fire destroyed much of the Kirkbride building. Today the facility is not in use as a mental institution but either left abandoned or used by the Worcester Fire Department for training.

Ward P. Delano

Jon-Michael Condon

Kirkbridge Building by Jon-Michael Condon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License

Built in 1877; burned in 1991

Worcester State Hospital (current name); Worcester Insane Hospital (original name)

Ward P. Delano