Seeking Asylum: Preservation at Central State

The Indiana Hospital for the Insane opened on West Washington Street in Indianapolis in 1848 with five patients and closed as Central State Hospital in 1994 with a 160-acre campus. The place languished for years, but it’s on the upswing. On September 26, Indiana Landmarks stages Seeking Asylum: Preservation at Central State, a behind-the-scenes tour of the historic campus.

Visitors on the two-hour walking tour will see three of the landmarks that remain. At the 1896 Old Pathology Building, home of the Indiana Medical History Museum — an entry on Indiana Landmarks’ Ten Most Endangered list this year — participants will see the one-of-a-kind collections and learn about the preservation challenges it faces. The tour also takes in two repurposed buildings: the 1938 Administration Building, renamed Central State Mansion, houses IUPUI students, and the turn-of-the-century dining hall that has reopened as 1899, an events venue. The walking tour will pass by two derelict structures with potential — the 1886 power house and the laundry — that need imaginative new uses.

The guided two-hour tour requires a ticket in advance. Tours leave every fifteen minutes from 9 to 10 a.m., departing from Indiana Medical History Museum, 3045 West Vermont Street in Indianapolis.