State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers

Danvers State Hospital is a large mental health campus on Hathorne Hill in Danvers, Massachusetts. Construction began in 1874 on a site of more than 500 acres with long views toward Boston. Its centerpiece is the Kirkbride Complex, a red brick building with granite trim and steep slate roofs, designed in the Victorian Gothic style by Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee. It follows the planning ideas of Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, with a central administration block flanked by stepped-back wings separating men and women, and the most excited patients in the outer wings. Fireproof passages and ventilating towers were part of the design. The project was controversial for its ornament and its final cost of about $1.46 million. Later buildings include nurses' homes, tubercular treatment buildings, a medical building, staff cottages, repair shops and farm structures. Together they show how the hospital moved toward specialized care, occupational therapy and greater self-sufficiency. The nominated area covers the Kirkbride hilltop and the Maple Street service and cottage area.