…. is the title of 7/27/05 WSJ article on converting State Mental Hospitals to high-end apartments and condos. The article ponders whether people will find these places (popularized in horror movies) to be too scary or just real cool. In an ongoing poll on wptf.com on the plans for Dix Hospital; the majority want to keep it as a mental hospital. But elsewhere, developers are paying the states enough money for the property to allow the state to build other facilities for the mentally ill. Deinstitutionalization is not proving to be a good idea. Interesting note was that the South Carolina mental hospital was designed to block out moonlight, which was thought to exacerbate some mental conditions.
If I arrange to get a tour of Dorothy Dix, anyone want to join me?