Fire Alarm and Peeling Walls, Kings Park Psychiatric Center

Kings Park Psychiatric Center opened in 1885 as the Kings County Asylum, later becoming a New York State-run institution that at its peak housed more than 9,000 patients across dozens of buildings on the Long Island campus. Chronic overcrowding and shifting approaches to mental health care led to steady downsizing after the 1950s, and the facility closed for good in 1996. Many of its ward buildings, including this one, were left to decay, their lath-and-plaster walls stripped bare by decades of moisture and neglect. Portions of the campus were later transferred to New York State Parks, which now oversees the grounds as part of Nissequogue River State Park.

Photo taken in September 2008.