Curved Ward Room With Four Windows, Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building

This curved dayroom sits within one of the radiating wings of the Fergus Falls Kirkbride Building, part of the former Fergus Falls State Hospital. The Kirkbride plan, developed by psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride in the 1850s, called for staggered, bat-wing wards designed to maximize sunlight and air circulation for patients. Fergus Falls' hospital opened in 1890 and operated under that model for decades before later additions and treatment philosophies replaced the original ward system. The building was designed by architect Warren B. Dunnell, and its distinctive curved wings remain one of the largest surviving examples of Kirkbride-style institutional architecture in the country.

Taken June 2014