Angels in the Architecture: A Photographic Elegy to an American Asylum

Great Lakes Books Series

by Heidi Johnson

In the nineteenth century, perhaps no approach to mental illness was more compassionate than that of hospital administrator Thomas Story Kirkbride, whose asylum designs integrated beauty and nature as a method to treat patients. The Northern Michigan Asylum in Traverse City, Michigan, was one of the last of nearly two hundred such architecturally intriguing asylums. Founded in 1885 under the principle "beauty is therapy," the Northern Michigan Asylum closed in 1989 and today stands as a haunting reminder of this lost era. Angels in the Architecture is a photographic study of this institution's one-hundred-year history. Heidi Johnson's photographs of the building today are juxtaposed with rare images from private collections and state archives. Johnson has captured Kirkbride's spirit of compassion―of angels in the architecture―in a book that conveys the human element of mental illness with beauty and integrity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, History, Architecture

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in a Traverse City bookstore after a recent visit to the old asylum. (yeah, yeah, make the comments about why they let me out of the asylum)

I should have purchased it. Beautiful.

I'm glad they chose to renovate the building... it is haunting and beautiful at the same time. A place that used to house drug addicts, the mentally ill and developmentally delayed now is home to an amazing restaurant, artsy shops and hip condos.

http://www.thevillagetc.com/

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave a very good description of what it was like to be part of the Traverse City asylum

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as background information for my NaNoWriMo novel this year. And because when I visited it over the summer I was fascinated by it. Really interesting book/place.

[Sherri Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently went on a tour of this State Mental Asylum and so the book was particularly of interest. Great personal stories from employees who worked there.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really lovely. The photos pair with the stories and historical notes to present different facets of this institution -- light and dark.

[Holly Lindquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grand relics of the 19th century, the Kirkbride asylums are some of the most magnificent buildings built in America. Thomas Kirkbride believed that architecture and landscape could heal and he designed his castle-like institutions accordingly, giving them rooms with tall ornate windows, creating beautifully-landscaped gardens, and building crennellated towers bearing elaborate clocks. They were fantastical and imposing buildings, and they sheltered innumerable addicts, mentally-ill people, vagrants and misfits back when psychological treatments were fairly barbaric.

Unfortunately, many Kirkbrides are long-since demolished and others are eerie derelict ghosts of former grandeur. That is why there should be more books like this one, which celebrates the history and mostly-successful preservation of the Northern Michigan Asylum. Atmospheric photographs are accompanied by anecdotes and quotes, many by former patients and caretakers. There's even a bit of a ghost story. (If you're interested in learning more about this type of architecture, google "Kirkbride Buildings", there are some excellent websites on the subect.)

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! It was such a great way to showcase not only the beautiful (and sadly, disappearing) architecture, but also the stories of former patients and staff. Their tales shed a unique light on a narrative that many of us probably don't have personal perspective on. On top of fantastic anecdotes from these people, the reader is treated to some beautiful photography of some very interesting and gorgeous architecture and detailing of the buildings that the patients and staff called home.

[Jamie Young-Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough information for me.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful display of photography. Very sad that Heidi is no longer with us.