A truly institutional institution!

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Where: Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

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When: Unknown

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To the Stereo Pairs collection today, and to a vast institution somewhere. These great building projects were intended to provide treatment and care for people in a region and have lasted for many years though few remain in their original use to this day. Where are we and is it still standing?

Niall McAuley and derangedlemur combine to tell us that this is longer standing. While it was standing (for 100 years between the 1820s and the 1920s), it was the "District Lunatic Asylum" on the Falls Road in Belfast. Originally built to designs by architects William Murray and Francis Johnston (the latter perhaps best known for his work on Dublin's GPO), it was demolished to make way for a new maternity hospital in the early 20th century....


Photographers: Frederick Holland Mares, James Simonton

Contributor: John Fortune Lawrence

Collection: Stereo Pairs Photograph Collection

Date: Catalogue range c.1860-1883

NLI Ref: STP_0435

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Info:

Owner: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 19137
lawrencecollection stereographicnegatives jamessimonton frederickhollandmares johnfortunelawrence williammervynlawrence nationallibraryofireland institution hospital limestonestructure dome symmetrical stereopairs asylum lunaticasylum belfastlunaticasylum belfast northernireland ulster locationidentified mentalhealth royalvictoriahospital grounds countyantrim districtlunaticasylum francisjohnston demolished williammurray fallsroad stereopairsphotographcollection mentalhospital mentalinstitution psychiatry psychiatriccenter psychward psychology building architecture

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  • profile

    domenico milella

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:04:09

    Congratulation for your beautiful Album.

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:28:47

    You'd have to think prison or, as they were known back then, lunatic asylum with all the bars on the upper floor windows.

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:35:33

    I am leaning towards a hospital. STP_0436 next door is a reverse view.

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:37:04

    Drawing a blank at the NIAH so far, possibly gone or North of the border...

  • profile

    derangedlemur

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:43:39

    It looks like this, except it seems to have an extra floor: www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&...

  • profile

    derangedlemur

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:48:39

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Yep. Belfast lunatic asylum.

  • profile

    derangedlemur

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:51:11

    catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000339826

  • profile

    derangedlemur

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:57:34

    Looking at the OSNI, it doesn't seem to have lasted much beyond the early 20th century.

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 08:59:18

    The District Lunatic Asylum on the 1900ish map was beside the Royal Victoria Hospital but is gone, so I am 3 for 3 - An asylum north of the border which is no longer standing!

  • profile

    irishlad031_vintage

    • 19/Sep/2018 09:49:27

    Derry had some lunatic asylums over the time... Bishop Street area was one.

  • profile

    ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq

    • 19/Sep/2018 11:36:22

    **TRIPLE MURDER WHILST GARDENING KLAXON ALERT !! ** 1911 - Read All About It - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/82191151 1860 - ... The Belfast Lunatic Asylum, a vast establishment, is so full, on the declaration of the resident physician, that lunatics are sent to the county prison — a fact revealed at an inquest held on the body of a poor madman who died the other day in the gaol... From - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114837311

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 12:03:31

    I think this building was replaced by the Jubilee Maternity hospital in 1933. DIA ref

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 19/Sep/2018 12:32:39

    [https://www.flickr.com/photos/8468254@N02] The NIAH page on that asylum in Tipp says it was by Francis Johnston in 1833. The Belfast Asylum was also by Johnston in 1826-29, according to the NIAH. One of the entries in the DIA includes the text: (Demolished 1924)

  • profile

    Dún Laoghaire Micheál

    • 19/Sep/2018 12:48:26

    So no Stormont jokes then?

  • profile

    derangedlemur

    • 19/Sep/2018 13:25:18

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Obviously not one to let a good idea go to waste.

  • profile

    Vab2009

    • 19/Sep/2018 15:17:00

    I am late to this but came across this book review Asylums, Mental Health and the Irish 1800-2010, Edited by Pauline M Prior, www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/misery-in-ireland-s-mass.... By 1958 the asylum population in Ireland was 21,000 😳 Is it any wonder that they were so vast 😳

  • profile

    Vab2009

    • 19/Sep/2018 15:23:43

    Another image of Belfast asylum www.researchgate.net/figure/Belfast-Lunatic-Asylum-By-kin...

  • profile

    National Library of Ireland on The Commons

    • 19/Sep/2018 23:37:51

    Ouch https://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomberaustralia. I shouldn't read about axe wielding maniacs right before bedtime :\ I've left that part out of the updated description :p But have otherwise updated the map/tags/etc.

  • profile

    Vab2009

    • 20/Sep/2018 11:32:28

    Probably naughty posting this screen shot but I was fascinated by this institution. From the 1846-62 ordnance survey map - Belfast Lunatic Asylum

  • profile

    Niall McAuley

    • 20/Sep/2018 17:13:50

    [https://www.flickr.com/photos/vab2009] From the DIA, that map is after the extension to each wing in 1852-3. The 6" from 1837 shows the original smaller building.

  • profile

    Vab2009

    • 20/Sep/2018 17:29:43

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Thanks for that Niall.