Visited with Turbozutek and PlasticDel. Originally the Baldovan Certified Institution, Strathmartine Hospital was established in 1855 as an orphanage and a place of education and training for 'imbecile' children. From 1867 it was used as an asylum for children. It changed its name in 1856 to Baldovan Asylum and again in 1959 to Strathmartine Hospital. Later the Institution accommodated adults with special needs as well as children. It was extended in 1901 and rebuilt between 1963 and 1965.
I was particularly interested in this place after reading about the brutality Jimmy Laing suffered here as a child, as documented in his excellent book Fifty Years In the System.
"We arrived at the main administration block to be met by the only doctor and i remember his words to this day: 'Come in James, you're going to be very happy here'. How those words haunt me now. The entrance hall, with the Superintendent's office on one side and the Matron's office on the other, had beautifully polished floors and was decorated with various pot plants in brass containers, but through the doors the reality of Baldovan existed.
I was taken away and bathed and put to bed. That night I cried my heart out. When I compared the surroundings of my ward with the 'government green' walls and the 'government cream' ceilings and the whole place smelling of Izal disinfectant to that of the entrance hall and the Superintendent's office with its decor and plants where my mother had last seen me I suddenly realized where I was.
As I looked around the dormitory with every bed with its institutional red bed cover I thought, 'Oh my God, what's going to happen to me? Am I ever going to leave here?' I was only nine years old".
The grounds are pretty vast and contain many buildings, but unfortunately it's pretty trashed, and there is very little in the way of interesting "stuff" left.
Anyway... photos:
I was particularly interested in this place after reading about the brutality Jimmy Laing suffered here as a child, as documented in his excellent book Fifty Years In the System.
"We arrived at the main administration block to be met by the only doctor and i remember his words to this day: 'Come in James, you're going to be very happy here'. How those words haunt me now. The entrance hall, with the Superintendent's office on one side and the Matron's office on the other, had beautifully polished floors and was decorated with various pot plants in brass containers, but through the doors the reality of Baldovan existed.
I was taken away and bathed and put to bed. That night I cried my heart out. When I compared the surroundings of my ward with the 'government green' walls and the 'government cream' ceilings and the whole place smelling of Izal disinfectant to that of the entrance hall and the Superintendent's office with its decor and plants where my mother had last seen me I suddenly realized where I was.
As I looked around the dormitory with every bed with its institutional red bed cover I thought, 'Oh my God, what's going to happen to me? Am I ever going to leave here?' I was only nine years old".
The grounds are pretty vast and contain many buildings, but unfortunately it's pretty trashed, and there is very little in the way of interesting "stuff" left.
Anyway... photos:
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