Time is running out for the Kirkbride Building, the centerpiece of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital for more than a century.
Demolition is imminent, according to members of Preserve Greystone. They have scheduled a “town hall” meeting for April 1, 2015, in Morristown’s Town Hall, at 7 pm in the seniors center on the third floor.
From Adam McGovern of Preserve Greystone:
NOW is the time to do what we can to reverse the State’s decision to demolish this treasured place. The citizens who have a stake in it were not properly consulted before, so we have to make our voices heard now. Preserve Greystone greatly thanks those who have written letters to public officials and sent us copies, those who attended the Governor’s town hall meeting and tried to highlight the issue, and those who are helping in many other ways.
We will hold a town hall meeting of our own next Wednesday, April 1 (seriously :-)), and the details are included on the attached flyer (please email me if you can’t see it or open it — also please feel free to print it out, and post or leave anywhere you think people would like to see it and we are allowed to do so). The meeting will be a working session to hear your views and ideas, and plan for action to raise the awareness of officeholders and the media further.
We need volunteers and you have been answering the call; we need to flood elected officials with messages and you have been responding; we need to turn out and show of support visibly at meetings and protests, and the meeting will cover all of this.
Demolition could start a week after this meeting, so the time is now to keep pressing our legal case and supporting this with public action. Thanks as always for everything you do, and we hope to see you on April 1.
The preservationists’ issues are summarized in these exquisitely made videos by Antiquity Echoes.
I grew up on the hill in Morris Plains, we could walk to grey stone. The main building has beautiful architecture. The 34 million in demolition cost could be used to rehabilitate the building then it could be declared a land,ark building preventing its demolition forever, then it could be sold as office space. This way it would be a piece of history preserved and not cost much. Has anyone thought of this? This has been done in many instances all over. The old schoolhouse on route 10 in the Randolph area. As far as not keeping a building where less than desirable things occurred….not all of the Jewish concentration camps from World War ii have been destroyed and it’s a good thing…historical landmarks teach future generations a lesson, sometimes of good things, sometimes of bad things. A museum need not exist, but such a beautiful piece of architecture in a pretty setting could continue to exist simply repurposed as office space.
Regardless of what kind of history went on at Greystone, it is STILL history of us as American people. The argument that the building has no sentimental value simply because it is associated with some disreputable history is invalid. We preserved Antietam whose history is riddled with death! The thing this country lacks is pride in our history, and Mr. Russel, you are showing us what many people think of our American history- both nationally and locally- that it is a unnecessary expenditure and it should be replaced by more and more town homes and condos, more and more corporations taking over. It saddens me to hear this. You had your chance to grow up in a world with plenty of places like Greystone that you could find a connection to your roots through. I’m still quite young, why should that opportunity be denied to me?
I’ll forego your personal attacks and get to the facts. Obviously your position Mr. Greystone Journalist is to preserve the Greystone building at any and all costs. A museum of a psychiatric hospital that had anything but a stellar history? Really? What is the longevity of this attraction? Just what Morris County needs another non profit not contributing to the tax base.
The remediation would have to include all building, fire, electric, plumbing and ADA compliances/codes. An enormous expenditure for any entity.
Condos, townhomes and green space is clearly the way to go.
M. Russell, you really have no idea what’s going on do you? I can’t stand it when people leave comments without properly educating themselves on the subject.
Without this getting too lengthy, the tax payers are paying 34 million dollars against their will to remove this building. That’s the only time your money comes into play. If you bothered to view the article (which you clearly didn’t), in the video titled “Greystone’s Last Stand 2015 update,” you would see a private company wanted to come in ,and purchase the building with zero state aid to open it up to the public for touring. They would have done remediation/repairs on their dime. Meaning, hundreds of jobs for Morris County could have been created.
The building has fallen into disrepair, need all the internal systems updated and brought to code…..no entity has the money to do this or maintain the building.
Why must we ( the state or county )preserve a financial relic from the past? You can see how well “preservation” worked at Willow Hall. Epic fail for the town. Lost rateables, lost park space and promises not kept by the groups so vocal to “save” the mansion.
For Greystone, a much smarter choice would be to provide a mix use of use park space and let a developer propose residential condos or town homes that will generate rateables, not an ongoing burden for the taxpayer.
Well said. Why do we insist on putting history in the landfill?
It was the Vail family of Morristown, who donated the land and insisted on the best in architecture and environment for the mentally ill in a building that became known as the Queen of the Jersey Hills. At a time when the mentally ill were treated like animals, here they could be cared for and safe on park like grounds with a working farm and vocational training to help them become rehabilitated. Unfortunately as the years went by neglect and overcrowding led to the problems that caused the condition it is in today. The building remains viable and I find it hard to understand why the State, which claims to be short of cash, insists on wasting money to demolish such a valuable asset. What message will this send to future generations?