Interior View of The Male Blue Room (Ward 6) Digital image of E/4770

Description Interior View of The Male Blue Room (Ward 6) Digital image of E/4770

Date c. 1902

Catalogue Number SC 749519

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 4770

Scope and Content Male blue room, Ward 6, Craig Dunain Hospital (Northern Counties District Lunatic Asylum), Leachkin Road, Inverness, Highland Craig Dunain Hospital, originally Inverness District Asylum, was opened in 1864 following the 1857 Lunacy (Scotland) Act. It was the third District Asylum to be built in Scotland and covered the whole Highland region, including the Western Isles. It changed its name to Craig Dunain in 1947 and was closed in 2000. This shows the male blue room, a sitting room for male patients. This vast Victorian institution, some 183m long, had two symmetrical wings. Male patients were housed in the west wing and female patients in the east wing which was provided with a similar blue room in which women could relax, blue being seen as a calming colour. By the 1890s every effort was being made to keep the wards and day rooms clean, well decorated and comfortable. Dr J C MacKenzie, Superintendent of the hospital, was convinced that patients behaved in a more calm and rational manner in such surroundings and were less noisy and destructive. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/749519

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap