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Pilgrim State Hospital (Brentwood, New York)

photo: Tom Kirsch

In the 1920s, New York State had operated six mental hospitals to facilitate the growing need for psychiatric care, and all were extremely overcrowded. The state’s answer was to build the solution to this problem once and for all – Pilgrim State Hospital.

Originally designed to house 12,500 patients on 1,900 acres of land, Pilgrim still holds the record of being the largest psychiatric hospital in the world – its peak patient population at one time was 16,000. The original hospital constructed from 1930-1941 consisted of four large continued treatment groups, each having about six separate buildings.

The hospital also included a large medical building where patients and employees with acute diseases would be diagnosed, as well as housing laboratories, consultation rooms, a nursing school, and the pathology department. This building was flanked by two large reception buildings, where new patients would stay for an average of one month to be examined and diagnosed. Each building was separated by gender, and connecting corridors on each floor allowed patients and staff to work closely and quickly between the related services they provided.

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photo: Tom Kirsch