Monument to Madness: The Rehabilitation of the Victorian Lunatic Asylum

Abstract

This paper examines the origins and changing fortunes of the unique building type of the nineteenth-century lunatic asylum. The paper discusses how asylum design became a prestigious area of architectural work in response to perceptions of appropriate treatments and environments for mental illness. However, over time, asylums were discredited, leading to closure programmes and redundancy. After a period of abandonment, a new future for the asylums has appeared, and housebuilders have responded to a changing policy and public agenda by taking on the risky process of preservation and conversion. The paper includes three case study examples to illustrate the continuing story of the asylum, demonstrating how outcomes have depended on the approaches and attitudes of planning authorities and developers.