Avalon Bay Asylum Project
The site of the Danvers State Hospital for the mentally ill in
Massachusetts is being renovated by Avalon Bay Communities, Inc. into a complex of luxury condos. Avalon is planning on
putting in 497 units in total. They intend to create a "'campus-like environment' with a swimming pool, WiFi cafe
and fitness center. Rents will start around $1,400 for a one-bedroom, and about half-a-million dollars for a
condo." The 40 or so buildings on the 75-acre property are being demolished, though the central portion of the
original 313,000-square foot Kirkbridge building, pictured, is being preserved as an historical
monument.
The hospital was built in the 1870's and has been called one of the "world's scariest buildings." Some people believe that it is even haunted. The architecture is Gothic and the majority of the rooms were built in the style of a dormitory, as the facility was meant to house around 600 patients. During the 1950s, allegations of various shock therapies and lobotomies being used to control the overcrowded facility that held more than 2,000 residents were common and continued until the Hospital was completely closed in 1992. Avalon Bay bought the facility for $18 million.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
R Apr 12th 2006 5:33PM
Ha, think I'll take a pass. What use to be a childhood haunt for some is now a luxury condo/apt complex for others. The irony...
jmchez Apr 12th 2006 7:16PM
I believe that Forbes had this listed as one of the worst business decisions of the last year. The words "Insane Asylum" are engraved above the main entrance!
jmchez Apr 12th 2006 7:20PM
I believe that Forbes had this listed as one of the worst business decisions of the last year. The words "Insane Asylum" are engraved above the main entrance!
K Apr 13th 2006 8:49AM
For more detail on how truly creepy and unnerving this building is, rent the 2001 film "Session 9" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/)
The film was shot here before the renovations began, and the structure wasn't much more than an abandonded building. Given the history of this place, and the number of people that died there over the course of a century, I think that luxury condos aren't the best idea.
Now, if they could make the creepy nature of this place work FOR them and blatantly advertise the place as haunted, I see a large untapped market in Goth housing.