• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

The Main Building

Introduction   |   The Main Building   |   The Cottages
The Medical Examination Building   |   The North Building

The main building featured a number of wards for different patients. Superintendents wished to create a sense of home life for the patients, and the building featured sitting rooms, solariums and balconies where they could relax. Patients in the main building were separated into paid and free wards. Patients who were able could pay between $1.50 and $2.75 per week for more comfortable surroundings and even private rooms. However, in 1871 only 4% of patients paid any fees.

Male and female patients lived apart, usually in dormitory-style rooms, but there were chances to socialize. The building featured a large dining area, where patients could eat together or receive visitors, an amusement hall, where church services were held until the chapel was built in 1884, and even a library, stocked with suitable material. These leisure spaces could be used by patients who had permission to move around the Asylum without chaperones. Other patients, such as those in the North Building, had to be supervised or were confined to their wards.

The building was surrounded by airing grounds, where patients could spend their time walking outside. Small balconies had been added at the end of some inner hallways to increase ventilation and sunlight and, in 1909, three storey balconies were built on each side of the main building for patients and visitors. By the mid-20th century most patients were living in small private rooms, allowing them their own living space. After the erection of the medical exam building, the main building housed only chronic wards, which were populated by long-term patients.