hospital history:
Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum
'To restore the use of reason, to alleviate suffering and to lessen peril where reason cannot be restored'
From an inscription on the 1812 foundation stoneAn offshoot of the Dundee Royal Infirmary in King Street, the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum was built in the countryside to the east of Dundee and opened in 1820. It's founding rules were hugely influenced by the regime at the Retreat in York.
Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum original 1812 plan
Courtesy of Dundee Central Library Local Studies Collection
The Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum opened with 50 patients in 1820-21. By 1828, it had 105 patients, rising to 200 in 1839. The building became increasingly overcrowded despite several extensions - theare were nearly 300 patients in the late 1870s, by which time a replacement facility was already being designed at Liff.
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G & P Barrie's,
lithograph
Courtesy of a Private CollectionBarrie's works at the old Dundee Asylum building, corner of Cardean Street and Morgan Street.
Dundee was a rapidly expanding urban centre in the 19th century and although the Asylum had been built well outside the town, it was swallowed up by residential and industrial development 50 years after opening. When the Asylum left its original premises in 1882, part of the northern half of the building was acquired by G & P Barrie's to use as a soft-drinks factory. The rest was demolished to make way for Cardean Street, Park Avenue, Morgan Street, Baldovan Terrace and Baxter Park Terrace. Barrie's remained on this site until the early 1970s.
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