Photo: Snlaverty · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Asylum · Traverse City, United States
Northern Michigan Asylum
- Dated
- Dated 1883–85
- Declared purpose
- State asylum (Kirkbride plan)
- Today
- Survives, restored as shops and homes
- Architect of record
- Gordon W. Lloyd, architect: about 51 when credited (1883, born 1832). Build time on record: about 2 years (1883–85).All architects of record →
Hidden history
Found, Not Built
A yellow-brick Kirkbride with spires, now the Village at Grand Traverse Commons. What the photos show is a palace in the woods.
Beauty as treatment
The record says the grounds and the building were meant to heal.
Saved and reused
It closed in 1989 and was restored for new uses.
Gordon W. Lloyd
Credited to Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit.
Questions worth asking
- Why build palaces for asylums in remote places?
- What did the tunnels under the buildings connect?
Possible original uses
- A spa or sanatorium
- A college or palace
What the photos show
Surrounding Buildings
Old buildings nearby in Traverse City. Compare the stone, the domes and the dates.
Further viewing
Episodes from My Lunch Break (Michael Kruse), the main lens for this app. They open on YouTube.
