The Kirkbride Plan

The Kirkbride Plan

This stop is a flat panel with images and text lit from behind that explains what the Kirkbride style of hospital design was.  

Thomas Kirkbride was a physician and primary founder of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, the forerunner to the American Psychiatric Association.  Kirkbride received his medical degree in 1832 and proceeded to operate his own medical-surgical practice in Philadelphia from 1835 to 1841, focusing on neurological and psycho-surgical interventions. He pioneered what would be known as the Kirkbride Plan, which aimed to improve medical care for the mentally ill through standardization of hospital architectural design. 

Kirkbride Plan hospitals tended to be large, imposing institutional buildings with a standard number of eight wings (which resembled the wingspan of a bat) and could accommodate up to 250 patients.  Kirkbride's philosophy behind the staggered wings was to allow individual corridors open to sunlight and air ventilation through both ends, which he believed aided in healing the mentally ill.  Each wing, according to Kirkbride's original guidelines, would house a separate ward, which would contain its own "comfortably furnished" parlor, bathroom, clothes room and infirmary, as well as a speaking tubes and dumbwaiters to allow open communication and movement of materials between floors.

The wings furthest from the center complex of the building were reserved for the "most excitable," or most physically dangerous and volatile patients.  Patients rooms were suggested to be spacious, with ceilings at least 12 feet high, but only large enough to room a single person.  The center complexes of the Kirkbride Plans were designed to house administration, kitchens, public reception areas, and apartments for the superintendent's family.  Architectural styles of Kirkbride Plan buildings varied depending on the appointed architect, and ranged from Richardsonian Romanesque to Neo-Gothic.

In addition to the intricate building design, Kirkbride also advocated the importance of "fertile" and spacious landscapes on which the hospitals would be built, with views that "if possible, should exhibit life in its active forms.”  Kirkbride suggested hospital grounds be a minimum of 100 acres in size.  The foliage and farmlands on the grounds were maintained by patients as part of physical exercise and therapy.  The campuses of these hospitals often evolved into sprawling, expansive grounds with numerous buildings. At the peak of the success of the Kirkbride Plan, these hospitals were technological marvels that demonstrated advanced fireproof construction, state-of-the-art heating and ventilation, and fresh water delivery systems.

Between 1845 and 1910, a total of 73 known Kirkbride Plan hospitals were constructed throughout the United States, including the Kalamazoo State Hospital and Traverse City State Hospital.  By the 20th century, popularity of the design had waned, largely due to the expense of maintaining the immense facilities.   As of 2016, approximately 33 of these identified Kirkbride Plan buildings still exist.