Greystone Supporters Make One Last Effort to Keep History Standing

It’s a piece of standing history, and its supporters are hoping it won’t become just history.

Members of Preserve Greystone congregated for their annual meeting last week to mull ideas and potential ways to stop the Kirkbride Building on the former psychiatric hospital’s campus from being demolished.

According to dailyrecord.com, proposals ranged from having the building declared as a national historical landmark to asking Bruce Springsteen to put in the good word to Governor Chris Christie.

Environmental remediation is needed on the building to remove asbestos, lead paint and other hazardous material, the report said. All that work, plus the actual demolition of the building, is being bonded out for $50 million and will take at least two years, according to the report.

Preserve Greystone members want the building, or at least part of it, preserved because of its intended use – to revolutionize the treatment of the mentally ill, the report said.

Should the Kirkbride Building be preserved for historical purposes?