What does it say about Sean if he brings me to a now abandoned and dilapidated mental hospital site for a Sunday jaunt out?
What does it say about me that I liked it?
Riverview Hospital is a mental health facility located in Coquitlam. The hospital is still in use, however due to budgetary cutbacks over the years, have drastically reduced the number of patients in their care.
Riverview’s many buildings include the crease clinic which closed in 1992, east lawn which closed in 2005 and north lawn which closed its doors in 2007. The most interesting, albeit creepiest building is the west lawn building. It was built in 1913 and at its height, treated 300 of the most seriously ill male patients.
The building itself is beautiful, not out of place in the Southern states, I’d imagine. And in its current decayed, fenced and boarded up state, and overrun with fauna, I can picture it lost amongst other plantation houses in the bayous of Louisiana. As dilapidated as west lawn building is, it made for some great atmosphere and picturesque photos. I kept wondering if I would see a ghostly figure looking out from behind the bars.
I call this one “let me in” because you can see all the scratch marks frantically made by someone’s hands. From the outside.
Although the hospital is public and you’re free to walk around on the grounds and green space, we were stopped by a security guard in a patrol car who cautioned us not to take any more pictures as Riverview actually charges to take pictures as well as to film on its grounds. They make a killing renting to film studios. Luckily for us, the guard let us off with a warning and didn’t haul us off to have words with nurse Ratchet.
View more photos of Riverview Hospital on my Flickr album.
No Comments