Angels in the Architecture: A Photographic Elegy to an American Asylum - Great Lakes Books | Historical Photography Book, Abandoned Buildings Exploration | Perfect for Photography Enthusiasts & History Lovers
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SKU:46727124
Product Description
Angels in the Architecture is a photographic and historical study of one of America's last architecturally significant asylums, The former Northern Michigan Asylum, also known as the Traverse City State Hospital. Author and professional photographer, Heidi Johnson photographed and studied the site for 3 years from 1997 - 2000. Johnson's photographs of the institution today are juxtaposed with rare images from private collections and state archives. The photographs are augmented by powerful firsthand accounts of former staff members and patients that reveal both sad realities and surprising acts of kindness. The book takes readers on a rare tour through a nineteenth century asylum. Of particular interest is the hospital's "Building 50", a four block long structure topped with twelve castle like spires that is now on the National Registry of Historic Places
Customer Reviews
Recently, my wife and I had coincidently visited the site of the Traverse City, Michigan Asylum during a weekend trip. We had found that they had turned parts of it into an upscale collection of shops, boutiques, and a winery. This coincides with the theme of the book, which exposes not only the mysterious background to an age of mental disorder hospitals, but their abandonment, and importance of their preservation. The book begins with a great (and worthy) recollection of a fantastic doctor, James Decker Munson, who was appointed as chief medical superintendent of the Northern Michigan Asylum throughout most of its operating days. The book is loaded with not only great and mysterious photos of many details of the asylum, but also with coinciding short stories, recollections, and even excerpts of factual data obtained during the course of its active days. The book is enough to spark much interest and sets course on understanding a bit of "the behind the scenes" of an asylum's function, but leaves you with a slightly open-ended spark for a wanting to know more.
