Willard Tour: Brookside
This post is part of a series. To see all the buildings I visited on the Willard Tour click the links below.
- Morning at the Asylum by the Lake
- Grandview
- Hadley Hall
- The Morgue
- Elliot Hall
- Brookside (you are here)
- The Bleak House
- The Cemetery
The Brookside house served as the home to the medical directors at Willard. No detail was overlooked when building this house. The 11 bedroom house had 2 kitchens, stunning woodwork, intricate door hardware, and lovely unobstructed views of Seneca Lake beneath stained glass windows.
But this stunning home whispers of secrets hidden in dark spots. About half of the bedrooms were servants quarters. It was said patients at Willard were put to work if they were able. In 1883 it was reported that of the patients at Willard “801 willing and able to work; 261 were able but wouldn’t work in some cases because of delusions but usually because of laziness or stubborness. 714 who were unable to work because of physical and/or mental illness.” Yearly in reports it was emphasized the value of work to the patient, at the same time pointing out that patients’ work was of considerable value to the Institution”
~https://www.asylumprojects.org/Willard.pdf
Had patients been utilized as house servants at Brookside? I can’t find anything to support my theory that they probably were, but I am going to keep looking 🙂
This post is part of a series. To see all the buildings I visited on the Willard Tour click the links below.
Was there somebody standing behind the front door in the entrance of brookside?
Not that I can remember George. I think the door was flung as wide open as it would go, pretty sure there wasn’t much space between the door and the wall.