USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 16
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There are eight circular towers attached to the exterior walls of the north, east, and west wings; they contain the water-closets requisite for the inmates of the building; two of them contain staircases. The water- closets are placed on the level of every story, and entered immediately from the floors thereof, and are disconnected from the main building by a
173
NEW ALMSHOUSE ON DEER ISLAND.
column of air passing through upright openings, in the exterior walls of the towers, opposite to each other, and placed near the walls of the build- ing.
F.E.WORCESTER.
I
III
MII
The dimensions of the building are as follows, in round numbers : The centre building is 75 feet square and 75 feet high, each perpendicular cor- ner being subtended by the section of a circle. The superintendent's
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I
NEW ALMSHOUSE ON DEER ISLAND, IN BOSTON HARBOR. FRONT ELEVATION.
·
ated from the superintendent's house, and thrown out from the centre
house, if the building faces the west, makes the west side of the centre building, except the circular corners, and is thrown out by these corners 50 feet by 50 on the ground, and 50 feet high ; so that it stands almost as much separated from the main building as if it were entirely disconnected with It, and is still near enough for the convenience of the superintendent. The north wing, intended particularly for women, is 100 feet by 50, and 50 feet high, i. e. twice as large as the superintendent's house. . The south wing, intended particularly for men, is 100 feet by 50, and 50 feet high, the game dimensions as the north wing; and both these wings are separ-
References.
1. Supt.'s Family Parlors. 2. Director's room.
3. Superintendent's Entry. 4. Superintendent's Vestibule.
5. Entrance to Keeper's House. 6. Archway Entrance.
200 feet.
11
13. Eating Rooms for Lying.in Wo- men. [working women. 14. Eating Rooms for healthy and 15. Eating Rooms for old and infirm men. [healthy men.
16. Eating Rooms for working and 17. Bakery and dry store. room.
18. Bathing and clothes-room.
19. Ironing and drying-room. 2J. Water-closets. (In towers.) 21 & 23 Stairways.
22 & 24. Steps and Entrances.
1# 25. Screen partition, 7 feet high.
24
1
12
23
23
15
12
·
LO
18
12
11
14
23
23
21
7
PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR OF THE
4
NEW ALMSHOUSE ON DEER ISLAND.
[Three of the cubes in the east wing are omitted in this plan.]
174
NEW ALMSHOUSE ON DEER ISLAND.
25
7. Coal Drops. [Stairs to Basem't. 8. Entrance to Great Kitchen and 9. Ventilating and hot-air Flues. 10. Great Kitchen.
11. Inspector's Room.
24 1
12. Exercising or Day Rooms.
E
175
NEW ALMSHOUSE ON DEER ISLAND.
building, like the superintendent's house, by the semi-circular corners, for purposes of better supervision and ventilation. The east wing, intended for the accommodation of different classes, and for different purposes, in the different stories, is 200 feet by 50, and 50 feet high, i. e. twice the di- mensions of the north and south wings, and four times the dimensions of the superintendent's house. The north, east, and west wings have three stories, each 12 feet high, above the basement and beneath the attic. The attic is Og feet high, and the basement & feet high. The south wing is four finished stories high, and the floors of these stories are uniform with those of the three other wings. The circular towers attached to the exterior wall of the north, east, and west wings, are each 65 feet high and 13 feet in diameter.
The proportions of the building are arithmetical : - the centre building is a cube 75 feet, with the corners subtended ; the superintendent's house is a cube of 50 feet ; the north wing is two cubes of 50 feet each; the south wing is two cubes of 50 feet each; and the east wing four cubes of 50 feet each.
The paupers, as they arrive, are received at a central point, under the eye of the superintendent, in his office, as they approach ; thoroughly cleaned, if necessary, in the basement central apartments for cleansing ; and distrib- uted, when prepared for distribution, to those parts of the building as- signed to the classes to which they belong.
There is a chapel, with a gallery, occupying 75 by 75 feet, on the third floor of the central building, equal in height to two stories. The floor of the chapel is on a level with the attic floors of the wings. It is well light- ed, in a central position, of convenient access from all parts of the estab- lishment, and is commodious enough for those who are able to attend re- ligious worship, out of even a larger population than 1,200.
Large folding-doors, or traversing-doors, are an original feature of this plan, and answer, by being opened wide, and by turning, in different di- rections. important ends, in making rooms for particular purposes, when they are wanted; and when such rooms are not wanted, in being opened wide, or turned back, so as to leave the supervision unobstructed, and change the circulation of the air throughout the establishment.
It is not absolutely a fire-proof building, but the roof is slated; the floors are double, and laid with mortar between them : the ceilings under the floors and over the rooms consist of joists, and the bottom of the lower side of the double floors; the walls are brick built hollow, and without lath and plaster on the inside, or coverings of any kind on the outside : the windows are wooden sashes, but they are set in a thick double brick wall, and may each of them burn without burning another. All the wings are separated from the centre building by thick brick walls, covered and secured, in all their openings, with iron doors and shutters, and rising above the roofs of the wings, so as to make a barracade against fire, behind which the inmates of a wing on fire may retreat, and firemen may be protected.
T
MASSACHUSETTS STATE PRISON AT CHARLESTOWN.
EAST FRONT ELEVATION OF DORMITORY BUILDING OF 1826, AND EXTENSION OF 1850, INCLUDING CENTRE BUILDING AND SOUTH WING.
177
PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN THE PLANS.
PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN THE PLANS.
In all the plans of these buildings there are certain great principles ob. served, among which are the following : -
1. Size. The size of these buildings allows from 600 to 1,000 cubic feet of space to each individual ; besides their proportion of space in the eating-rooms, school-rooms, hospital, and chapel.
2. Proportions. The proportions are arithmetic and harmonic, a cube being their gerin.
3. Concentration. These buildings are all in the form of a cross, hav- ing four wings, united to a central octagonal building; one for the super- intendent and his family, and three of them for inmates; the kitchen be- ing in the centre, in the Ist story of the octagon; the supervisor's room over the kitchen ; the chapel over the supervisor's room ; and the hospital over the chapel.
4. Extension. The parts all radiating from a common centre, can be extended without disturbing the central arrangements and architectural design.
5. Convenience. The keeper's or superintendent's office, eating-room, and sleeping-room are all in proximity to the great central octagonal building ; so that the keeper has eyelets and ready access to the kitchen, supervisor's room, chapel, and hospital, and all the wings; and he can go through the establishment without going out of doors. The inmates re- ceive their food from a large central kitchen ; the wings are all under su- pervision from one central supervisor's room. The inmates assemble in the chapel and hospital from all the wings without exposure, and without leaving the house.
6. Classification. The men and women, the old and young, the sick and well, can all be separated, in different wings, and different stories of the building ; and all these classes can be kept distinct by placing them in different wings, by the power of central observation and control.
7. Supervision, outside and inside. All the areas, apartments, win- dows, walls, galleries, staircases, fastenings, external yards, and external yard walls, except the space outside at the ends of the wings, are under su- pervision from the centre. One man can do more, in these buildings, in consequence of the facilities for supervision, than many men can do in some of the old establishments, containing an equal number of inmates.
8. Security against Escape. In Prisons and Houses of Refuge, where security against escape is of great importance, the construction is such, that, if an inmate breaks out, he breaks in; - that is, if he escapes from his dorinitory into the area, he has still another wall or grating to break, while at the same time he is in sight from the supervisor's room. There is, therefore, very little encouragement to try to escape from the dormito- ries. And if the inmates are in the yards, gardens, or grounds around,
WI
IT
178
PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN THE PLANS.
the supervision extends outside so easily and perfectly, that it affords great security against escape.
9. Security against fire. Although buildings according to these plans are not wholly fire proof, still, the cell floors being stone or iron, the walls brick or stone, the galleries and staircases iron, the doors and gratings iron, the roof slate, and the gutters copper, much of the material is incombusti- ble. Besides, the separate rooms or dormitories are literally fire proof; and the remaining parts are extensively exposed to constant observation ; so that a fire, in its first beginning, is easily discovered and extinguished.
10. Warming by steam, hot water, or warm air. The construction of these buildings is favorable to either mode of warming. If by steam, the steam may be generated in the centre building, and distributed in one. inch wrought iron pipes, under the windows, in four rows of pipes, one above the other on the upright wall, three inches apart, to be inclosed in a box eighteen inches square, made by the floor for the bottom, the outer wall for the back, a board cover for the top, and an upright board for the front ; the pure air to be received through orifices in the outer wall, and the warm air to be passed into the area, through orifices in the front of the box. If the heating is to be done by hot water, substitute a cast-iron pipe, 6 inches in diameter, near the floor, and near the wall, under the windows, within a box, similarly constructed to the box around the steam- pipes.
If the heating is to be done by warm air, place in the centre building, and in the areas, the Boston School Stove, or, which are on the same prin- ciples, Chilson's furnaces, or any other heating apparatus which is, at the same time, a ventilating apparatus.
11. Lighting. Gas light in the areas will light all the dormitories, and wherever distributed, will be easily supervised and controlled from the centre building.
12. Sunlight. Care is taken in these buildings, to have a large surface exposed to the morning, noonday, and afternoon sun. This can be done with the large windows in the outer wall, but it cannot be done with a small window in each small dormitory or cell. Much more sunlight can be brought to shed its healthful and cheering influence, over the inmates of these buildings, than if the windows in the external wall were as small as they must be, if the rooms within were made of a small size and placed on the external wall.
13. Artificial Ventilation. Each small room, dormitory, or cell is pro- vided with a ventilator, starting from the floor of the same, in the centre wall, and conducted, separate from every other, to the top of the block. where it is connected with a ventiduct, and either acted upon by heat or Emerson's ventilating cap. Both at the top and bottom of the room there is a slide, or register, over orifices, opening into this ventilator, which are capable of being opened or shut. These ventilators are intended to take
179
PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN THE PLANS.
off Impure and light air. In the external wall are provided oritices, pitch- ing outward and downward, to take off carbonic acid gas, which may be fatal to life, if allowed to accumulate in the lowest part of the building. The large rooms are provided with such orifices, by carrying every third or forth window to a level with the floor. These means are used to take off the impure and light air, and the heavier and more fatal gases. To supply pure air, all the heating is made by ventilating apparatus.
14. Natural Ventilation. Through the large windows, when opened, the air can have free course with all the varying winds, throughout the building, from north to south, from east to west, from south to north, and from west to east, and obliquely in every direction, according to the direction of the wind, through the octagonal centre building.
15. Water for cleansing and bathing. For cleansing, water is let on in every room, and furnished liberally in every story ; and in different parts of the building large means are provided for bathing. Nothing is more indispensable in the plans of such buildings, than convenient and liberal supplies of pure water for cleansing and bathing.
16. Employment. Large provision is made; in all these buildings, of floors and space for employment, under cover, with good and sufficient light, convenience, and supervision. In many old buildings there has not been employment, because there was no place suitable for it. This diffi- culty has received great consideration, and every effort has been made entirely to remove it, so that all the inmates of these buildings should be kept out of idleness, which is the mother of mischief. Labor is favorable to order, discipline, instruction, reformation, health, and self-support. But there can be but little productive industry without a place for it. Suitable places have been provided in all these buildings, whether prisons, almshouses, or houses of refuge, for employment.
17. Instruction. School-rooms, privilege rooms, chapels, more pri- vate rooms and places, comfortably large single rooms, are provided, in which all kinds of good instruction can be given.
13. Humanity. The humanity of these buildings is seen in there be- ing sufficient space, large liglut, abundant ventilation, and airing in sum- mer, good places of labor and instruction, and good hospital accommodation for the sick.
19. Care of the sick. The hospital is large, light, convenient, easily accessible, well warmed and well ventilated, so that if suitable care is not given to the sick it will not be because there is no place for it, no suitable hospital accommodations.
20. Notifying in sickness. The separate rooms are so located and dis- tributed, under supervision, from the centre building, that a gentle knock on the inner side of the door of each separate lodging-room will be heard by the person on duty in the central room for supervision and care ; and thus relief can be immediately secured ; or, in case of a fit, or sudden and
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MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL.
violent attack, without consciousness, the sick person will in all probabili- ty be heard, from any separate dormitory in either wing, by the person on duty in the supervisor's room in the centre building.
21. Level Floors. It is designed to have no stumbling place, in either building. But on the contrary, that the officers and inmates may walk over any part of the whole, by day or by night, on level floors. The stairs are the only places where it is impossible to make level floors.
22. Economy. Great economy is used in these structures, in the finish. which is perfectly simple, unadorned, and substantial ; affording no harbor for vermia, no place of concealment for fire, and yet durable and decent.
We have thus endeavored to give an outline of the principles which en- ter into these structures, of their adaptation to the purposes for which they are erected, and of the importance of carrying out the designs according to the plans.
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL.
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This is one of the most noble institutions in the world. Its design was to afford the most relief to invalids, and as far as possible to reach the ne- cessities of every class of persons, the benefits of it to be administered to all who stand in need, at as low a rate as possible. There are two buildings under the control of the Corporation. Ist. The General Hospital in Bos- ton, as above delineated, and 2. The McLean Asylumn for the Insane, loca- ted in the town of Somerville.
181
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL.
The Massachusetts General Hospital was incorporated February 25. ISII : and entitled to an annual income not exceeding thirty thousand dol- lars, for the support and maintenance of a general hospital for sick and iusane persons. The act granted to the hospital a fee simple in the estate of the old Province-House, on the condition that $ 100,000 should be raised by subscription within ten years. Large donations for this purpose were made by 1047 persons in the year 1816, at which time the trustees pur. chased the lot on which the McLean Asylum was built, then in Charles- town.
The Hospital building had a front of 168 feet, and a depth of 54 feet, with a portico of eight lonic columns, but was extensively enlarged in 1816.
It was built of Chelmsford granite, the columms of their capitals being of the same material. In the centre of the two principal stories are the rooms of the officers of the institution. Above these is the Operating Theatre, which is lighted from the dome. The wings of the building are divided into wards and sick rooms. The staircase and floorings of the en- tries are of stone. The whole house is supplied with heat by air flues from furnaces, and with water by pipes and a forcing pump. The beauti- ful hills which surround Boston are seen from every part of the building, and the grounds on the southwest are washed by the waters of the bay.
The premises have been improved by the planting of ornamental trees and shrubs, and the extension of the gravel walks for those patients whose health will admit of exercise in the open air.
By the Act of June 12, 1817, it was provided that the stone to be furnish- ed for the building should be hammered and fitted for use by the convicts of the State Prison. By the act of February 21, 1818, establishing the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, it was provided that the corporation should pay to the trustees of the General Hospital, for the use of the Hospital, the third part of its net profits. By the act of April 1, 1835, establishing the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, it was provided that one third of its net profits should be paid annually to the Hospital fund. A similar provision was adopted in the charter of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company at Worcester, in March, 1844.
By the last Annual Report of the Trustees of the General Hospital (Jan- uary 22, 1851), it seems that its capital now yielding an income to the in- stitution is $ 171,119. And that the income for the year 1850 was $ 33 .- 517, viz. : From property of all kinds $ 16,917; Extra dividend of the Hospital Life Insurance Company $ 18,000; Subscriptions for free beds $ 2.100; and Surplus from the McLean Asylum $ 1,500.
The expenses for the year were $ 29,021, viz. : For stores $ 10,574; Wa- ges $7,891 ; Fuel $2,815; Medicine $2,355; Furniture $1,523; Re- pairs $ 1,463, Salaries $ 1,850; Miscellaneous $ 523. The admissions to the hospital in 1850 were 746, viz. : -
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182 MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL.
Males. Females. Tolal.
Patients paying board .
201
41
212
" paying part of the time
58
19
77
" entirely free
· 183
214
427
442
301
746
Of these, 269 paid $ 3; 32 paid $6; 14 paid $4; and 4 paid $ 10 per week. Total, 319.
Proportion of deaths to the whole number of results, one in ten.
Greatest number of patients at any visit in private rooms, 7; greates: number of paying patients, 33; of free patients, 103; greatest total, 136 . least number in private rooms, 2; least paying, 15 : free, 63 : least total, 83. Number of accidents admitted during the year, 93.
Average number of patients, 108. Males, 59; females, 49.
Average number of paying patients, 11 American and 11 Foreign ; to- tal, 22.
Greatest number of paying patients, 16 American and 17 Foreign ; least number of paying patients, S American and 7 Foreign.
Total males, 442. Of this number, 47 were in private rooms.
Total females, 301. Of these, 5 were in private rooms. A little over one third of the free patients were female domestics ; one sixth were male laborers, most of them foreigners.
Average time of ward-paying patients is two weeks and six days; and of free patients, six weeks.
Proportion of ward beds occupied by free patients, a fraction less than three to one.
The whole amount of board charged to all the patients, during the year, was 8 17,186.49. Of this sum there was charged to the Trustees, for the board of free patients, $ 12,960.22; and the balance, $ 4,226.27, has been received from paying patients.
If the gross amount of the annual expenses be divided by the average number of patients, it will give $ 4.90 for the weekly expense of each pa- tient.
"The expenses of the Hospital for the year 1850 have been $ 29,024. Of this sum, only $ 4,226.27 has been received from paying patients, leaving a balance of nearly $ 25,000 to be drawn from the treasury of the Institu- tion. When it is considered that the income of our present capital fund must fall short of this demand, even under the most favorable circumstan. ces, to the extent of nearly $ 10,000, it will be readily yielded that we must continue year by year to depend upon the benevolent charity of the friends of our Institution for its progress and support."
The Board of Trustees annually appoint two practitioners in Physic and two in Surgery, who constitute a board of Consultation. At the same time, they appoint six physicians, six surgeons, an admitting physician,
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183
MCLEAN ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.
and a superintendent of the Hospital. Applications for admission of pa- tients must be made at the Hospital in Allen Street, between 9 and 10 A. M., on each day of the week except Sunday. In urgent cases, however, application may be made at other times. Applications from the country may be made in writing, addressed to the admitting physician, and when a free bed is desired, a statement of the pecuniary circumstances of the patient must be made. During alternate terms of four months in each year, two physicians and two surgeons have the care of the patients. No visitors are adinitted to the Hospital without a special permit from the of- ficers or trustees. The patients may be visited by their friends daily be- tween 12 and 1 o'clock.
Any individual subscribing one hundred dollars shall be entitled to a free bed at the hospital for one year. All subscriptions for this purpose com- mence on the 1st of January in each year. The whole number of free beds is never less than thirty seven. Two of these are reserved for cases of ac- cidents.
The officers of the Institution for 1851 are as follows : William Apple- ton, president ; Robert Hooper, vice-president ; Henry Andrews, treasurer ; Marcus Morton, Jr., secretary ; twelve trustees, and four physicians, who act as a Board of Consultation. Two of the trustees form a visiting com- mittee for a month, and thus by turns each member serves one month dur- ing the year.
The McLean Asylum for the Insane.
This Asylum for the Insane was opened to receive boarders, October 1, 1818, under the direction of the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, it being a branch of that Institution. It is situated in Somerville, about one mile from Boston, on a delightful eminence, and consists of an el- gant house for the Superintendent, with a wing at each end, handsomely constructed of brick, for the accommodation of the inmates. Though suf- ficiently near to Boston for the convenience of the visitors and trustees, who generally reside in the city, it is not directly on any of its principal avenues, and is sufficiently retired to afford the quiet and rural serenity which in all cases is found to be conducive to a calm and healthy condition of mind. The name of Mcl.can was given to this Hospital in respect to John McLean, Esq., a liberal benefactor of the General Hospital.
The number of patients in the house, on the first day of the year 1850, was one hundred and eighty-four ; ninety-five of whom were males, and eighty-nine females. During the year 1850, eighty males and ninety-three females were admitted, being one hundred and seventy-three.
'The following is the number of admissions, discharges, and results, since the Asylum has been under the management of Dr. Bell, the present phy- sician and superintendent.
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MCLEAN ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.
Whole number
Much im- proved, im- Died. proved, not improved and unfit.
ered. Recov- ing at end of yeur.
Average number of patients.
1837
120
105
191
8
25
72
86
80
1838
138
131
221
12
45
74
93
95
1839
132
117
225
10
33
69
103
112
1840
155
133
263
13
50
75
125
123
1811
157
141
233
11
55
75
112
135
1842
129
135
271
15
43
80
133
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