The Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo in partnership with PreservationWorks hosted a presentation by Dr. Kirkbride at the Burchfield Penney Art Center.
In 1854, Thomas Story Kirkbride, a Quaker doctor, published his influential treatise on the construction and management of the ideal psychiatric hospital, based on Enlightenment beliefs in the therapeutic powers of architecture, landscape, beauty, and respectful care.
Dr. Robert Kirkbride (spokesperson for PreservationWorks, Professor of Architecture and Product Design, Parsons School of Design and a relative of Thomas Story Kirkbride) discussed the complex histories of Kirkbride Plan hospitals, highlighting the historical significance of their architecture and landscape design, and shared recent examples of adaptive reuse and memorialization at several Kirkbrides across the U.S., including Buffalo’s Richardson Olmsted Campus.
