[MassHistPres] Worcester State Hospital Clock Tower
SCeccacci at aol.com
SCeccacci at aol.com
Fri Dec 2 07:43:07 EST 2011
Plans for demolition of the Administration Building/Clock Tower at
Worcester State Hospital have recently been announced in anticipation of the
scheduled opening in mid-2012 of a new mental health facility now under
construction nearby. Here below is a brief statement outlining the significance of
the building and the current status of affairs. You will also find links
to newspaper articles, photographs, etc.
See Preservation Worcester's website at
_http://www.preservationworcester.org/_ (http://www.preservationworcester.org/) for a link to a TV report and
links to the Clock Tower's Facebook page, an i-petition, and information
on contacting your legislator. Please indicate your support for preserving
the Clock Tower by signing on the Facebook page, by signing the i-petition,
and writing your legislators. This is a state-owned property and the
public can be influential.
Does anyone have suggestions for strategies? Angels?
Time is running out!
SUSAN McDANIEL CECCACCI
Education Director, Preservation Worcester
10 Cedar Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609
Telephone: 508-754-8760 Fax: 508-798-0693
Email: _susan.ceccacci at preservationworcester.org_
(mailto:susan.ceccacci at preservationworcester.org)
The Future of the Clock Tower at Worcester State Hospital?
Rising proudly from a wooded hilltop overlooking Lake Quinsigamond, the
soaring stone Clock Tower at Worcester State Hospital is a pre-eminent
Worcester landmark. Visible for miles around, it can be seen by travelers on
the major thoroughfares of Route 9 and Interstate 290, on MBTA and Amtrak
rail lines, by collegiate rowers on Lake Quinsigamond, patients in doctors’
offices at UMass Medical Center, and by those looking out toward Worcester
from nearby towns. Not only is the Clock Tower an unusually fine piece of
High Victorian Gothic style architecture; not only does it help us locate our
geographic position; it tells us who we are. In addition to its
architecture and its landmark qualities, the Clock Tower is an important physical
reminder of the outstanding role that both Worcester and Massachusetts have
played in the history of the care of the mentally ill in the United States.
The Clock Tower building was built as the administration building, and the
centerpiece, of a large Kirkbride-plan hospital opened in 1877 to relieve
overcrowding in the original 1833 Summer Street asylum, which was later
demolished. Designed by Boston architect George Dutton Rand, it was
recognized in its day as one of the most exemplary hospital projects in the United
States. As a nod to its significance, plans for the new building were
published in 1876 as a two-page spread in the prestigious architecture journal
American Architect and Building News, at a time when one-page
illustrations were the norm. Built during a period when cities like Worcester were
feeding the country’s industrial might and the growing reputation of the
United States abroad, not only the high style of the architecture, but also the
superb quality of the building materials and construction of this
monumental hospital complex were clearly expressions of pride. Constructed of local
stone, it is a handsome example of the stonemason’s art. Costing more than
$1 million, this was the most expensive public project that the state hand
ever undertaken up to that time.
Upon the urgings of Horace Mann and Dorothea Dix, the State Lunatic Asylum
at Worcester (now Worcester State Hospital) was established in 1830 and
opened in 1833 as Massachusetts' first public hospital for the mentally ill.
One of the first state-operated mental hospitals in the country, it
became a model for the humane care of the mentally ill.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Worcester State Hospital
superintendents, staff, and those they trained, played important roles in
shaping the direction of mental health care in this country. The asylum’s
first superintendent, Dr. Samuel Woodward, an instrumental figure in the then
new field of psychiatry, was also a founder and the first president of the
organization that would later become the American Psychiatric Association
(APA). Eight more physicians who had trained or were otherwise associated
with Worcester State Hospital followed Woodward as president of the APA
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1900, the first Registered Nurse
in the United States, Linda Richards, established a specialized nursing
school at Worcester State Hospital to train men and women as nurses to staff
the growing number of mental hospitals throughout the Commonwealth. The
hospital is also significant as the birthplace of the practice of pastoral
training, which is still the pre-eminent model for the clinical training of
theological students, developed here between 1924 and 1932 by Rev. Dr. Anton
Boisen and his colleagues.
In the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, the 1877 hospital complex was closed
and for many years was left largely vacant and unused. A section of the
sprawling building was destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1991, but
fortunately, most of the Clock Tower building and substantial other portions of the
complex survived. Yet, they were again left vacant and unused. In 2006 the
site was selected as the location for a new mental health facility and in
2008 demolition of most of the remaining hospital buildings began.
Preservation Worcester has worked for years to preserve this imposing 19th
century Victorian
hospital complex. It was first listed on our Most Endangered Structures
list in 1995. Since that time, hospital buildings, including the Clock
Tower, have been listed seven times – including the 2011 list.
State and national preservation organizations have also advocated for the
preservation of Worcester State Hospital’s Clock Tower. A notice that the
building was threatened with demolition appeared in the November/December
2009 issue of Preservation magazine, a publication of the National Trust for
Historic Preservation. In 2010 it was also named to the Endangered list
of Massachusetts’ statewide preservation organization, Preservation Mass.
Since 2006, when the hospital site was chosen as the location for a new
mental health facility, Preservation Worcester, the Worcester Historical
Commission, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, representatives of the
City of Worcester, and concerned local citizens have worked actively with the
Massachusetts Department of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), the Department
of Mental Health (DMH) to assure the preservation of the Clock Tower and
the smaller 1886 infirmary, the Hooper Turret. Without the advocacy of
Preservation Worcester and these other organizations, the Clock Tower building
and the Hooper Turret would not be standing today.
A reuse study carried out for the state in 2007 indicated that, as a
package, development of the Clock Tower, Hooper Turret, and the Hale Building, a
former nurses dormitory, could be feasible if certain criteria were met,
including the use of Historic Preservation Tax Credits. At that time, the
Worcester State Hospital complex, listed on the National Register as a
historic district in 1980, was believed to qualify for the credits. However, in
2008, because demolition to make way for the new complex left only the
Clock Tower and the Hooper Turret standing, the National Park Service
determined that the structures do not qualify for the tax credits. Since the reuse
study was never officially completed, the property was never declared
surplus and requests for development proposals were not issued. It has,
therefore, never been determined whether or not a developer might be interested in
taking on the project.
Despite these long-time efforts to assure its preservation, plans for
demolition of the Clock Tower building have recently been announced in
anticipation of the scheduled opening of the new facility in 2012. The building
needs repair and seismic stabilization for the state to give its approval for
the building to remain standing when the newly constructed complex opens.
New seismic building code regulations have brought the estimated cost of
simply stabilizing and mothballing the building to about $12 million, much
higher than previously believed.
A key Worcester landmark, the administration building/clock tower at
Worcester State Hospital is an irreplaceable physical reminder of the role that
both Worcester and Massachusetts have played in the history of the care of
the mentally ill in this country. Next to H. H. Richardson’s New York
State Asylum in Buffalo (1869-1870), it is perhaps the most significant
remaining example in the nation of a monumental Kirkbride hospital tower. It is,
without a doubt, the most outstanding surviving example of monumental High
Victorian Gothic style architecture in the city. The demolition of this
iconic building would represent an irreplaceable loss to the historical
memory and the architectural heritage of both Worcester and the Commonwealth.
Website links to information on the Clock Tower:
Newspaper article:
_http://www.opacity.us/article139_clock_tower_turret_rejected_for_tax_breaks
.htm_
(http://www.opacity.us/article139_clock_tower_turret_rejected_for_tax_breaks.htm)
slide show WSH before and after fire:
_http://library.umassmed.edu/omha/wsh_fire_1991.ppt_
(http://library.umassmed.edu/omha/wsh_fire_1991.ppt)
newspaper article on current status:
_http://www.telegram.com/article/20110902/NEWS/109029846_
(http://www.telegram.com/article/20110902/NEWS/109029846)
Preservation Worcester website:
_http://www.preservationworcester.org/_
(http://www.preservationworcester.org/)
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