Although I have made two visits to the Abandoned St Mary’s Hospital, I would definitely go again!
Back in January of 2016 I made a road trip to the US for some epic adventuring! One of the places I stopped at was the former & now abandoned St Mary's Hospital. It was bitter cold but that didn't stop up for exploring ever inch of the massive building. The hospital was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, 12 years after it was shutdown. Construction began on this red brick hulking building in 1912 & the hospital opened in 1914.
The building towers over all the surrounding structures with a nine story centre tower with two 5 story blocks on either side. A central corridor joins the structures together with two seven-story connectors. Upon opening the facility was state of the art! The design of the building was ahead of it's time with narrow corridors with plenty of windows allowing in ample amounts of natural light. The forward thinking would be considered a "green" initiative these days.
The hospital was equipped with a chapel & as part of the music therapy initiative, the organ could be heard throughout the facility. In 1948 a three story service building was added to the facility at a cost of $400,000 & was the only addition throughout the facility's life.
The hospital was run by the Sisters of St. Francis up until 1966 when the operations moved to a newer, nearby facility. This would open the last chapter of the building. Work began quickly & the former hospital was converted into a 104 room nursing home & operated as such for 37 years until closing in 2003. A newer facility was built & would accommodate some 250 rooms including the current residences of this facility.
Back when we first went we were told of a story where the police came after reports of people scrapping in the building. From what I understand was the brought in a K-9 unit to help track the scrapper & while on the roof of the building the dog jumped over a small wall not knowing there was nothing on the other side & fell to its death. The scrapper was caught & charged with the death of the dog among other charges, Details are sparse as it was several years ago when I heard this & unfortunately I have been able to locate an online article regarding it.
On our second visit the plan was to film a video unless things had dramatically changed. The only difference really was the decayed was getting worse which to me is a bonus but certainly not worth reshooting it all.
There was one last part of the hospital which we especially wanted to see again & that was the fully in tact dentist office. This room is what nightmares are made from! The old chair & equipment covered in 16 years of decay was just so awesome to see. I did end up taking a few pictures while in there on my second visit now that I had m y brand new Thrunite T1 Rechargeable Flashlight!
just curious what city was this in ? no details
This was in Western New York!
Did any of the doors use skeleton keys?