Abandoned Hospitals & Asylums

“If someone tells you you're crazy enough times, eventually it becomes true. It's that old psychiatrist's joke: insanity's all in your head.” ― Madeleine Roux, Asylum

Urbex: The Pocock Brothers Padded Cell, The Royal Hospital Haslar, Gosport – June 2015

Padded cells were common place in many of the UK Insane Asylums and were considered essential in the control and treatment of some of the more extreme Asylum inmates. The primary function of the padded cells were to accommodate patients for short periods of time to prevent them from harming themselves when suffering epileptic and psychotic episodes but they were also used to monitor patients who had suicidal tendencies…

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Urbex: The Twin Morgue, Belgium – May 2015

What’s better than a nice disused morgue… well two of them 🙂

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Urbex: The Little Miracles, Belgium – May 2015

The so called “Little Miracles” are a collection of deceased babies stored presumably in formaldehyde, they were supposedly donated for medical research and further examination. Whilst the majority appeared to be normal in appearance there were a handful which featured deformities and most were scared with incision marks where they had received autopsies…

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Urbex: Manicomio di C, Italy – April 2015

Manicomio di C is another abandoned Italian Madhouse or Asylum that is pretty large inside and boasts some impressive architectural features as well as a large grand chapel which is still used to this day and has been sectioned off from where it used to be joined to the asylum building…

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Urbex: Ospedale SC aka Hospital SC, Italy – April 2015

Hospital SC, another abandoned hospital In Italy, this time, a little more modern than the Manicomio’s but still quite dated based upon the equipment left behind. I really enjoyed this place, despite being a bit trashed clearly by local vandals and although it had a fair bit of graffiti there were still some nice photos to be had…

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Urbex: Villa Sbertolli, an Italian Asylum, Italy – April 2015

Villa Sbertolli is an abandoned Asylum complex in Italy and comprises of several buildings arranged along a winding road. The whole place has been derelict for quite some time and some of the buildings are completely bricked up. We were however lucky enough to find a way into this amazing Villa building which I understand was once a private residence but later incorporated within the new use of the site as it became an Asylum catering for the insane…

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Urbex: Manicomio di R, Italy – April 2015

Manicomio di R is a huge hospital facility located within a large town in Italy. Originally opened in 1871 the site consists of multiple buildings within large walled and fenced grounds and catered mainly for insane patients…

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Urbex: Red Cross Hospital, Italy – April 2015

Another lovely abandoned location in Italy, the Red Cross Hospital sits empty, on a hillside in a pretty remote locations. The weather was incredibly hot as we made our way inside and wondered about searching for the chapel which wasn’t as obvious to locate as we had expected…

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Urbex: High Royds Insane Asylum aka High Royds Hospital aka West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston, Leeds, West Yorkshire – March 2015 (Revisit)

Briefly the abandoned High Royds Asylum opened in 1888 and closed in 2003 since then the site has been undergoing development into luxury apartments most of which are now complete. The main admin building still remains empty boasting some of its original features…

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Urbex: High Royds Insane Asylum aka High Royds Hospital aka West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston, Leeds, West Yorkshire – February 2015

High Royds Lunatic Asylum or the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum as it was originally called, is a former psychiatric hospital near the village of Menston in West Yorkshire. The broad arrow plan asylum features a large array of stone built wards and interconnecting corridors most of which have been demolished leaving the majority of the old wards as independent buildings most now repurposed as modern apartments…

Urbex: Bangour Village Hospital aka Edinburgh District Asylum, Scotland – February 2015

The now derelict Bangour Village Hospital is a large Psychiatric Hospital complex which first opened in 1906 as The Edinburgh District Asylum. The Asylum which was modelled on a German village-plan design similar to that of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s. In 1918 when the Asylum has around 3000 patients it was renamed as Bangour Village Hospital and operated under this name until its closure in 2004…

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Urbex: Hawks Morgue, Durham – January 2015 (2 Visits)

A nice little morgue in a small outbuilding of a large abandoned hospital complex, complete with a stunning porcelain slab!

Urbex: A German Psychiatric Hospital aka Psychiatrie V, Germany – November 2014

Very little information about this place. After more than a couple of fails and bails Bram thankfully saved our asses and pulled through with this location. A building within a large complex of other buildings some of which were live forming a big psychiatric hospital. The Building we explored was quite a modern addition to the site and this was both clear internally and externally…

Urbex: Selly Oak Hospital Morgue – November 2014

The first building on the site of Selly Oak Hospital was the old King’s Norton Union Workhouse which was built in around 1872 to consolidate existing services for 5 separate parishes. Originally the Hospital was built to accommodate 200 pauper inmates. In 1897 a separate infirmary opened at the site at a cost of £52,000 and was designed by Mr. Daniel Arkell. This infirmary was made to accommodate a further 250 patients and had basic facilities to cater for maternity care but there were no operating theatres or a mortuary at this point…

Urbex: Hospital Plaza, France – October 2014

Hospital Plaza is a rather large complex which features seemingly endless corridors full of bedrooms or wards, a large theatre room and a stunning chapel which remains in near perfect condition. The chapel is quite a prominent feature of this building leading me to believe that it may have once been a seminary…

Urbex: The Royal Hospital Haslar aka Serenity Hospital, Gosport – September 2014 (revisit 3)

The Royal Hospital Haslar was founded in 1753 and was designed and built by Theodore Jacobsen between 1946-1961. When it was constructed it was both the largest hospital and brick built building in England. Britain’s first Naval Hospital which span a huge area on the coastline of Gosport is also the site of a massive unmarked grave site with an estimated 7,785 buried sailors…

Urbex: Krankenhaus von rollstühlen aka Hospital of Wheelchairs, Germany – August 2014

This building from what I understand was once a private residence but was later used as a retirement home / residential care centre which catered for the elderly in their final days. Despite its name there was little evidence to suggest that this building functioned as anything other than a care home. There were a couple of beds in the basement which could have been consultation tables but I would suspect that few medical treatments would have taken place here…

Urbex: Beelitz-Heilstätten aka Beelitz Hospital, Men’s Pavilion, Germany – July 2014

Construction began at the Beelitz site in 1898. Funded by the Berlin State Insurance Company the Hospital was originally called “Worker’s Consumption Sanatorium”. Most of the prominent German architects at the time including Julius Boethke, Fritz Schulz and Heino Schmeiden were involved in the design of the sanatoriums which adopted a Pavilion system much similar to that of some of the Lunatic Asylums in the UK…

Urbex: Beelitz-Heilstätten aka Beelitz Hospital, Badehaus, The Bath House, Germany – July 2014

At the south eastern part of the Beelitz site you can find one of the most interesting and visually appealing of the Hospital buildings, Zentral Badehaus the Central Bath House. Whilst one of the iconic features of this building is the stunning huge domed room with the sunken T shaped bath, this unaltered example of the original architecture is just one of the many rooms which contain amazing detail retained from the initial build…

Urbex: Dr Anna’s Haus aka Dr Anna’s House and Surgery, Somewhere, Germany – July 2014

After the death of her Husband the surgery was rented out to other doctors who used the place as a Urology Clinic, it appears that the Doctors wife continued to live at the property until somewhere between 2000-2010 when she moved into a nursing home leaving the property abandoned…