Congratulations and thank you to Preservation Worcester and other local preservationists for their work in saving the Clock Tower at the former Worcester State Hospital.
I was hoping that the surrounding Administrative Building could have been saved along with the Clock Tower, but I would agree that the Clock Tower is indeed the most important element - driving home from Boston on 290, I know I am home when I see the Clock Tower in the distance.
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| from Preservation Worcester website |
Although it seems to be growing on me, I am still having a hard time imagining a free standing clock tower without the surrounding building:
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| from Preservation Worcester website |
It looks naked to me! I'm sure those who remember the entire complex think that it looks naked with just the Admin Building and Cock Tower.
I wonder if there is some way that we could retain some portions of the Admin Building as a ruin? Can we retain some pieces of the building's structure and avoid the temptation to 'clean-up' the lower part of the Tower too much? Ideally, a future visitor to the site would see the ruins and the 'messy' lower part of the Tower and be able to easily read that the Tower is just a piece of something that was much larger. Perhaps lower portions of some of the walls of the Admin Building could be retained so visitors could walk through the 'rooms' of the former building. And if I put on my engineering hat for a minute, retaining some of the walls abutting the tower may help structurally support the Tower itself, thus reducing the expense associated with reinforcing the Tower alone.
The symbolic opportunities that come with incorporating ruins into the clock tower monument intrigue me.
ReplyDeleteA symbol of our collective failure to save the entire structure (this in itself is an important chapter in the history of this building).
A symbol of our society's ongoing struggle to treat those with mental illness, the ruins themselves reflecting its history and symbolizing, together with the new buildings behind, our ongoing battle to help all who struggle with mental illness to become productive members of society.
I really like the idea of somehow incorporating the clock tower and the ruins into some sort of "reflecting garden" dedicated to those that have battled mental illness. Ideally we would incorporate the natural environment, itself a symbol of healing, hope and renewal, into this garden of ruins. The interplay of the built and natural environment would make for a unique and special place....