St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C., once called the Government Hospital for the insane, is representative of more than seventy such campuses made up of massive, ornate Victorian buildings designed by some of the most notable architects in the nation, and built across America over a sixty-five year period. Their now largely decaying forms represent ghosts of an era, built on a vision that became for some, a nightmare. The buildings of the Kirkbride Plan deserve to be remembered.
By September of 1944, the Western Allies had broken out of the Normandy beachehead, and suddenly and quickly moved across northern France . By September 7th, the 90th division was stretched across the northern sector on Patton’s Third Army’s left, advancing slowly northeast. As they did so the German defenders made a risky attack in an effort to spoil the allied advance, cutting through Allied lines in a surprise action at the small town of Mairy-Mannville.