In the 1880's, two medical centers were built near Smithtown on Long Island, New York, to accept mentally ill in-patients primarily from New York City; Kings Park and Pilgrim Psychiatric Centers, initially referred to as "lunatic asylums," became the largest such facilities in the world. Once described as "veritable cities for the insane," these hospitals were eventually phased out in favor of other treatment modalities (a euphemism for what many view as abject neglect), and with the exception of limited patient services, closed in the mid 1990's. The photographs featured in this series were made at the abandoned Kings Park and Pilgrim mental hospitals in early April of 2004.
Pilgrim I
Pilgrim I

Pilgrim II

Pilgrim III

Kings Park
Building 40

Kings Park
Building 93-I

Kings Park
Building 93-II

Kings Park
Building 93-III

Kings Park
Building 93-IV

Kings Park
Building 93-V

Kings Park
Building 93-VI

Kings Park
Building 93-VII

Kings Park
Building 123-I
 

Kings Park
Building 123-II

Kings Park
Building 136

Kings Park
Building 139
 
© 2023 Estate Katherine Westerhout Mann (Contact). All rights reserved.