Building 50 is the foremost architectural treasure of the Traverse City area. Other architectural treasures include an opera house, four or so very large elaborate Victorian (Queen Anne, etc.) homes, two two neighborhoods of Victorian homes, and some more recent buildings on the east side designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Building 50 consists of more than 10 wings/sections: three on the north side which were originally for women, three on the south side which were originally for men, a new section built in the 1970s and a chapel wing in the center, and two infirmary wings (which were once separate buildings), one connected to the back of the women's section and the other connected to the back of the men's section. The building is usually three stories, but there are one-story and two-story parts. The north and south sections are mostly symmetrical, but not identical. The "ground" or basement floor is halfway out of the ground: you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the first floor.
Since its construction, the original building has been altered with four extensions (additions to the southwest and northwest corners, and the infirmary wings to the rear), one major and very unfortunate demolition (the "Old Center" section was removed from the middle in the 1960s), and one replacement (the out-of-place Canteen section, 50a, was built to replace the "Old Center" section). As of 2003, the new section, now called "The Village Center" has been renovated into a hospitable place that houses several businesses, including professional photographers, a cafe, and the offices of the Minvervini Group along with others.
"Markham Asylum" Building 50 was built of yellow-white brick which was cast at the Markham brickwords located in Greilickville, which is now a suburb to the northwest of Traverse City. A temporary rail line was used at one time to bring the bricks from the foundry to the construction site. The "cottages" were also constructed of this brick, as were a few other buildings including the two small root cellar/stables (#62, #63). Elsewhere in the area, the Hannah Lay Mercantile in downtown Traverse City (two-thirds of the building remain, and it now houses a Ben Franklin chain store and other businesses) was built of Markham brick, as were many other old Traverse City buildings. Some buildings being built during the time of Asylum construction had to import bricks from downstate because the Asylum construction had so monopolized the brick production from Markham. The background seen in this page is from a photograph of a Markham brick wall.
Distinctive features of the building include many "Kirkbride" ventilation
towers on the peaks of the roof. These are shown in the two leftmost
photos below, and also in the photo to the right.
The front side is more detailed than
the back side. There are several multi-story balconies, some of them caged
in.
The background of this page is a pattern derived from a photo of
one of the walls. The first superindendent, James Decker Munson, is shown in
the color painting to the left.
Click on the following thumbnail images to see larger photos.
There are many more photos of Building 50 on the map page. Click on the little arrows pointing in the direction of Building 50 on the map to see the other photos when you have the map page loaded.
Click here to go to a page which shows and labels the different sections of Building 50
Additionally, the following historic images are available:
