{"nrhp_refnum":"77000996","name":"Western North Carolina Insane Asylum","other_names":["Broughton Hospital Main Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off NC 18","address_restricted":false,"city":"Morganton","county":"Burke County","state":"NC","lat":35.730738565000024,"lon":-81.67477133699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-10-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large eclectic red brick hospital building on a hilltop south of Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, built 1877-1886 as the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum and now the main building of Broughton Hospital. Samuel Sloan designed it.","why_significant":"It is described as one of the few major late nineteenth century institutional buildings still in use in North Carolina. Its exterior keeps essentially its original appearance, unlike the older Raleigh asylum. It represents a major state investment in treating the insane and is called an important monument to the state's social history.","narrative":"Broughton Hospital's main building spreads across a hilltop south of Morganton as a long red brick complex with a tall domed mansard roof, stepped wings and a classical entrance portico of paired Doric and Corinthian columns. Built between 1877 and 1886 as the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum, it was designed by Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan, with James Walker as master builder. The state authorized a second asylum in 1875 because the Raleigh institution was badly overcrowded. Funding shortfalls halted construction in 1879, and the main wing was finished in December 1882. The first patient was admitted in March 1883, and the north wing, designed by A. G. Bauer, was completed in 1886. The asylum became a hospital in 1890 and took the Broughton name in 1959. The exterior remains close to its original appearance, while the interior has been altered for changing needs. It is one of the few major late nineteenth century institutional buildings in the state still in use.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Samuel Sloan, Architect; James A. Walker, Master Builder","architectural_style":"Eclectic, classically derived ornament with a mansard roof","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as the main building of a working state hospital; the interior has been renovated many times and most window sash has been replaced.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.216834-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/7182/47718273/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/77000996.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000996/7928fca812-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000996/7928fca812-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"G Keith Hall","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broughton_Hospital.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">G Keith Hall</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broughton_Hospital.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87001918","name":"Broughton Hospital Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/broughton-hospital-historic-district-87001918/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718273","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4975833"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/burke-county/western-north-carolina-insane-asylum-77000996/"}