The Former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Project

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Imposing Design?

When one walks through the grounds of the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, it is impossible not to notice the grand design of the buildings, especially of the Administrative Building, located in the centre of the cottages. Before the era of so-called psychiatric “moral management,” mental health patients, not yet event branded as such, but simply known as “lunatics,” were a source of social ridicule rather than compassion and empathy. Therefore, asylums in earlier times greatly resembled prisons for criminals.

The influence of moral management encouraged more “home-looking” institutions: the patients enjoyed better living conditions, more nutritious diet, contagious diseases were easier contaminated, and patients were able to enjoy outdoor sports and activities. The prevailing philosophy taught that the patient’s environment plays a vital role in the process of recovery. However, the treatment remained basically the same. Despite the influence of the “enlightened” Philippe Pinel, asylums continued to use restrains as form of punishment; opium and alcohol remained a form of therapy for many mental illnesses; and social stigma surrounding the “lunatics” had not been minimized, as the negative stereotype was still etched in the collective consciousness of society.

The landscape of the hospital was maintained with the effort of the patients, who did not receive any pay for their work. The walkways were decorated with big trees, which also provided shade during the summer and the beauty of the flower beds were also sustained by the patients. Today, however, most of the old trees had to be cut down and flowers are gone. Therefore, the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in its full institutional glory: the cottages look like prisons, and there is nothing that would remind one of home. Quite the opposite: the buildings, especially the ones that are awaiting much needed renovations, look like jails.

One may argue that the philosophy of moral management did have an impact on Lakeshore, but to what extent in reality, as its buildings still had the subduing effect on the patients.