st johns | doom and gloom
17|04|05

Further wards repeated the pattern; long corridors, individual wards and curved honeycombed ceilings.

I assumed the ceilings were to cut down on noise, muffling screams, cries and shouts. And I assumed wrongly that they were unique to this asylum. Several weeks later, I was in another corridor asylum, and I found exactly the same ceilings. Obviously it was all the rage in the 1860s.

"The honeycomb vaulting in the ceiling of the corridors at St. John's, Warley and others (including Colney Hatch) was a special type of fireproof construction, and was commonplace in mid 19th century hospitals (not just asylums)." - David