Parsippany Township, Morris County
Contacts:
Peg Shultz, Morris County Heritage Commission
heritage@co.morris.nj.us
973-829-8117
Adam McGovern
mcgovernix@gmail.com
Year Listed : 2003
UPDATES:
7/2003: Morris County has finalized the purchase of 303 acres of the Greystone site, including a host of buildings, from the state for $1.
2008: Recreation fields opend in Morris County's new Central Park, on the former site of several smaller Greystone Campus buildings. The County purchased the land in 2003 for $1 from the state and demolished all historic buildings on the site.A new $170 million Greytone Psychiatric Hospital also opened on the site last year.
10/2009: The State continues to explore the possibilty of private sale of the remainder of the Greystone complex and land, while the County is also negotiating possible purchase of an additional 130 acres of the site, including the historic Kirkbride Building. The State is studying the costs of both mitigation of "hazardous materials" and total demolition of the Kirkbride Building. In addition to the park created on the site of many of the demolished historic complex buildings, a new commercial building was constructed and has just opened.
3/2010: Preserve Greystone was one of five advocacy groups invovled in a March 25 summit, hosted by PNJ, focusing on reinvigorating advocacy for previously-listed "10 Most Endangered" places. You can find out more about the summit here.
1/2010: State Senate President Richard Codey has announced plans to form a task force to seriously brainstorm preservation of the historic Kirkbride certerpiece of the Greystone property. He plans to introduce a resolution regarding the task force proposal later this month.
6/2010: The state Senate has approved a bill establishing a task force to study Greystone preservation options. Additionally, Preserve Greystone has organized a series of lectures on the history of Greystone in an effort to revive public discussion of preservation and draw added support.
The Greystone campus covers a square mile. Its 43 buildings offer a remarkable record of nineteenth and twentieth century institutional and residential architecture.
The complex’s outstanding structure is named for Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, a pioneer in the treatment of mental illness who devised its floor plan. From 1876, when it opened, until 1943, when the Pentagon was completed, the Second Empire Victorian Kirkbride Building was the largest structure under one roof in the United States.
Dr. Kirkbride believed that patients should recuperate in a calm setting. Their light, airy rooms afforded views of a soothing landscape punctuated by elaborate flowerbeds and fountains.
Greystone was once a self-contained community that included staff housing, a post office, fire and police stations, a working farm, vocational and recreational facilities, and its own gas and water utilities. The campus is a monument to the history of the treatment of mental illness. Pioneering efforts in occupational therapy were undertaken at Greystone, and the foundation of modern psychosurgery was laid.
The site still houses some patients, but many of the buildings are vacant and in need of repair. Ten have already been demolished. A section of the Kirkbride building flooded recently, and the gas plant is nearing collapse.
For several years, Morris County has been negotiating with the State of New Jersey, which owns the complex, to take over vacant structures for non-profit agencies. Some adaptive reuse plan must be arrived at soon before this nationally significant institution is gone.
copyright 2009 Preservation New Jersey
