Future
Until 2003, the future of most of the historic buildings was uncertain. Many of the buildings are vacant and need major repairs. Preservationists have been working for several years to guarantee the survival of this complex of buildings. Morris County had been negotiating with the State of New Jersey to take over vacant structures for non-profit agencies. Citizens of Morris County and surrounding areas formed a Preserve Greystone society to save the building. In 2003, Morris County finalized plans to purchase about 300 acres (1.2 km2) of Greystone Park from the state for $1.00. The purchase included many of the vacant, dilapidated buildings. The county is exploring options for viable uses of the new county park and buildings.
Ground was ceremonially broken on November 16, 2005, for the new psychiatric hospital on the Greystone campus. The expected date of opening was October 2007. The new hospital is two-thirds the size of the Kirkbride building and can house about 450 patients, with another 100 patients living in hospital-run cottages on the grounds around the main building.
The remaining property, including the historic Kirkbride building, is being turned over to the state's treasurer in October 2007 as excess property and will be sold. Its future remains uncertain.
On July 16, 2008 the patients were finally transferred to the new, state-of-the-art building which will house the new 450-bed facility. The move came after several long delays due to construction and security concerns.
In the summer of 2008, the Curry building, as well as the surrounding vacant buildings, were demolished. The Kirkbride building and surrounding patient houses are heavily patrolled by the Morris County Sheriff's Office and are inaccessible to the public.
The Kirkbride building has been used as a filming location for multiple shows and films, including Marvin's Room and House, M.D..
Read more about this topic: Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“Autonomy means women defining themselves and the values by which they will live, and beginning to think of institutional arrangements which will order their environment in line with their needs.... Autonomy means moving out from a world in which one is born to marginality, to a past without meaning, and a future determined by others—into a world in which one acts and chooses, aware of a meaningful past and free to shape one’s future.”
—Gerda Lerner (b. 1920)
“Only he who can view his own past as an abortion sprung from compulsion and need can use it to full advantage in the present. For what one has lived is at best comparable to a beautiful statue which has had all its limbs knocked off in transit, and now yields nothing but the precious block out of which the image of one’s future must be hewn.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)