Almost Heaven

Built for 250 patients, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in the state of West Virginia in the USA housed more than 2,500 at the height of its capacity. Construction design was based on the Thomas Kirkbride plan whereby the building itself was meant to have a ‘therapeutic’ effect on patients. The institution opened immediately after the American Civil War. The doors closed on what had become the Weston State Hospital in 1994.