UPDATE: Sadly, this building was a victim of an arson attack and burned in September of 2021. The remains were bulldozed.
During the early part of the 1900’s, our Medical Journals were filled with advertisements for private sanitariums and convalescent facilities, many of which were located in country environs with plenty of fresh air and green grass.
Several of these facilities were operated by the Gundry family, and most were located in the Catonsville (now Irvington) section of Baltimore, just inside of the city lines.
Dr. Alfred T. Gundry served as the medical superintendent at nearby Spring Grove Hospital from 1878 to 1891 where he was a pioneer in ending the use of mechanical restraints on psychiatric patients. In the late 1800s, he established the Gundry Sanitarium on his family farm
Certainly, his brother, Dr. Richard Gundry had some luminaries associated with his facility, including Dr. Osler!
Several weeks ago, Baltimore Heritage, where our History of Maryland Medicine Board Member, Johns Hopkins is the Executive Director, shared some images of the Gundry-Glass house as it is today.
It’s owned by the city, but is abandoned and is being used as a general dumping ground.
There are several out-buildings, and a few years ago, an idea was floated to have a resident care-taker live on the property and make sure that it wasn’t vandalized or used as a dumping ground. 
Until it closed in 1997, the property was used as a mental health facility, most recently for children. This property has a long and interesting history, and it’s a shame that it’s been left to fall apart.
Hello Meg, How I would love to live in that building, even in its imperfect state. When they see my antiques and books that I would move in, they likely would keep up the "Mental Health Facility" sign!
ReplyDelete--Jim
Lol, it's not abandoned like you think.
ReplyDeleteIts haunted as hell
Deletehow is it haunted?
DeleteI lived there as a child... 1995-late 1996... it is indeed a place things went bump in the night...
DeleteThis place should be burned down. The sheer amount of child abuse that took place there...
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything on abuse
DeleteI haven't read anything on abuse
DeleteAnd even if there was, the presence of a troubled history is not a reason to destroy the structure.
DeleteI lived there as a resident from 1987 til 1988. No abuse.
DeleteAt the age of 13 I was there in 1987/88....there was definitely child abuse taking place. Ask any teen there, around that time, about 24 hr chair therapy.
DeleteI'd like to know your name cause I lived there 1986 to 88 and I NEVER SAW ANY ABUSE. In fact all the other teens n I loved the place and cried when I left because several of the staff was so kind to me. I knew EVERYONE there.
DeleteI was their believe me it wasn't nice I first got their and felt like I was being locked in a jail
DeleteThis place I'm sure was horrible. My son was there back in 1996-97, just before it closed. Does anyone has any information as to where I could get his medical records for this place ?
DeleteI was there in same year as ur son from 95/96/97 back and forth , my mom wanted records because i was given false diagnoses. We never could get my records. If u find out left us know
DeleteAlso mever was any abuse mr big john ms chen mr eric were the best....
We do not have any medical records. You might check with the Maryland State Department of Health.
Deletei was there as well from 1995 and 1996. i disliked it and i was 15 or 16 years old. im 39 now and i never forget those horrible times at this place. smh!
DeleteI was there in 1996 and it was hell. I hated everything about that place abs the people. The only time I enjoyed myself was....never! Ppl could be heard crying, yelling/screaming. Not a fun place
DeleteI was admitted to gundry/glass hospital in 93-94. You can believe me or not but I know that Drs over medicate you. If it doesn't work or the meds are too strong and you have a recommendation of some kind they tell you that you are broken and can't be fixed. They find bonus reasons to keep you long after your discharge date. They keep you in quiet rooms for days they did it to my roommate. The therapists were a joke they would at times make things up about you if you don't again with the treatment plan they have set up for you. They make your goals absolutely ridiculous. Just a horrible place to be.
DeleteI know what you mean I was in 1986 and if you didn't do as they said you didn't get out were you put and locked up in rooms in atic area hearing that door slam and lock I'll never forget and the steps they take you up
DeleteI was a teen there in 86 whats your name? Mine is Kelly.
DeleteI think this is what happens with my case, the drugging and financial racket part of it. Hey kept me in there for no reason. Forced me to take drugs every day. It was awful. I was a good kid.
DeleteI know, I was there in 1992. Mr. Big John still give me nightmares.
ReplyDeleteHi LaToya, I agree with the above comment from "The Beauty". I remember you - a sweet, adorable little girl. I was a staff memember in 1992 - Miss Tracey. I dobut you would remember me but I still have nightmares from working in that hospital. I hope you are well!
Deleteme and my crew are going there saturday to investigate .. we do ghost hunting. is that place haunted? can someone tell me everything that happened there?
DeleteI believe it is up on second floor a room with use to be fire place . as a kid i was a patient there and that room when 5 ppl see same thing it not imagination . it was a mental health hosp some of us was there just to wait for a foster home to be available but was for women when first opened in i think late 18oos so u know it has dark secrets
DeleteI think me and 2 friends were chased out of the room your talking about last week. Was it attached to a pink bathroom?
DeleteNo bathroom was attached to it. It the biggest room where the bedrooms was it use to have a foreplace in it that was boarded up
DeleteI was their in 1986 and I don't have happy memories
DeleteMy name is Kelly and I was there in 86-87, when Ms. LEE and Jack worked there. Jack was kind of Mean but Ms. LEE was awesome. There was an older patient there Ann Lundy, and a woman that lived there for what they told me was at least 15 yrs. She scared me. But my experience there was not so bad, I remember use being allowed to sign up on Fridays and Saturdays to stay up late. I do remember being locked on the third floor when I first got there, (pink bathroom) but after I escaped 2x, things got better for me. Does anyone there in that time frame remember any of those people I mentioned?
DeleteMy sister worked there for many, many years. I also had a friend that was a resident for a few years and she didn't have any issues. She said she liked it there but a little afraid of the 3rd floor resident's. When I picked up my sister at the end of her shift, I remember going inside with her and I thought it was beautiful. The staircase was gorgeous. I remember that it was always busy there and lots of places for patient's to go outside and relax on warm days. It was a beautiful property, tucked away up on a hill off Frederick Ave. You never knew it wasnt a nice neighborhood when you were at the house. It was quiet and peaceful. My sister worked there from 1980 until it closed. She was asked to go to Harbor Hospital when some of the patients were moved there after it closed on Frederick.
DeleteIf you don't mind my asking who was your sister? She prob was staff there when I was there.
DeleteI was there in 88/89. It was awful. There was a mentally handicapped girl named Tammi there and they kept her strapped in a chair with a tray every day. There was another woman (Mary) who thought she saw snakes in the toilet all time. If you didn't behave, they would jump on you, throw you down and inject you with Thorazine (Beth).
DeleteWe had to go to group sessions with Dr. Kutzer. I remember one time in group therapy he proudly owned his dependence on antidepressants and stated that he thought the world would be a better place if everyone was on them. That guy was the biggest nut case in there. There was something not right at all about him. Glad we only had to see him once a week-and in a big group at that. They forced us to take drugs and the rest of the time you just sat around the entire day doing NOTHING. I don't remember ever going outside or getting exercise, perhaps there were some One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest-style stretches. Anyway. Many of this young girls and women didn't belong there at all. I remember all the screaming. Someone was always screaming in that place. I was forced there by my Bible Thumping stepfather who somehow convinced them I was a devil worshipper. This is laughable. Absurd even. I was a good kid. Didn't do drugs and east having sex or anything yet. I was 14. I had a solid moral foundation even then. He just came slithering into our family and started preaching all this religious cult-ish nonsense and found a way to get rid of me so he could live happily ever after with my deaf (and SO sweetly naive) mother and very young groom-able sister. There was a guy (counselor?) named Barry who finally got me out of there. What a nightmare. I'm glad it burned. Fuck that place.
Your not your Trauma But Your Trauma Is Your warrior Scar Cause I Bet You Are A Protector!!
DeleteKelly, are you talking about Mary DeWees? She was the one who was always walking up to people while they were eating and sticking her finger in people’s food saying; can I have some of that! 🤣
DeleteWhat a beautiful beautiful buildings I would love to own this building for sure!
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing the beauty of this house on you tube, I was amazed to see that vandals hadnt destroyed it. The stained glass and marble fireplaces are awesome and the woodwork, mirrors and pocketdoors are great too. Would love to see interior pics from the past.
ReplyDeleteSorry that it has an unhappy history.
The abuse of even 1 person does not merit the condemnation of the Building! Its the operation of the Administrative Staff that should be brought to light and the building itself cleansed of that spirit of wickedness! There is another Doctor who has done well by his patients; let's hope that Steven has not inherited any form of evil from this bloodline! Unfortunately, there were many practices being administered to patients that were horrific and cruel since family members were shut out from the day-to day workings of such institutions! Let us send up prayers for the suffering of innocent women and children.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of abuse of any kind. The psychiatric services helped many troubled minds.
ReplyDeleteI grew up one street over from Wickham... on Tremont Road. Vividly remember this place as a child... very creepy! Used to walk up that long road that led to the main facility. There was a large field on Wickham that all the neighborhood children played on... right next to Gundry’s. Grew up there 1962-1971.
ReplyDeleteI found a very old framed portraiture of Dr. Richard Gundry signed by the artist Emilie(Emily)Hergenroeder I thought the picture was a photograph but is a drawing of him. I know that this portraiture is old because the artist Born 1858-Died 1925 After doing a little research on Dr.Richard Gundry I thought that this piece of art does not belong in Fargo,N.D. where I live and found drawing but in the Maryland area. Can anyone help me with who to contact. Thank you
ReplyDeleteMy brother was confined there for psyc reasons as a child in the early 90s. He was abused there. I don't know if by staff or older patients. That house had a horrifying vibe even then.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful place,,But,,,bad vibes from the troubled young who had to be there. Hope they were helped.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful place.
ReplyDeleteI was a patient their so I know what the place was like some one in my family put me their
DeleteI would love to go up there and walk around. Not destroy anything but just check out the property
ReplyDeleteIs there anyway you could get your hands on the investigation results?
ReplyDeleteI would love to see this magnificent place. I recently see it on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me how to get in touch with anyone to see this place.
My husband went to hush school right across the street and was a paramedic in Baltimore City, and never once did he see or hear of abuse going on. It was funded privately to help children and these children were very well cared for and NOT mistreated at all. Part of my husband’s junior project in high school included going to this building and helping the nuns, painting walls and moving equipment and furniture (and he had quite a lot of contact with the patients here). Although this looks incredibly creepy and has a paranormal look to it, if there are spirits who have come back to this home, it is most likely because this place was the best home/treatment they ever received and want to be in a place they were happy in life.
ReplyDeleteThe sounds and shadows you see around the building NOW are 9 times out of 10 drug addicts and/or homeless people who have made this their home and react negatively because they’re afraid you’re there to remove them, bother them, or that you’re other homeless people looking for a roof.
If you do go to the building to do any kind of investigation, when you enter the home (preferably not during the night) VERY LOUDLY AND CLEARLY state that you are there from the historical society to do a check of the building, you’re not police or anyone who’s trying to take anything from them. Make sure to say that you’re there to do your job only and (if you can, take and leave clean clothing, food and water) state that you’ve left provisions on the front step for anyone who needs or wants it, and you’re not there to bother anyone, take away their home, or interfere in their lives in any negative way. Continue to repeat this on various levels of the house and if you encounter anyone who seems upset, agitated or frustrated, it wouldn’t hurt to carry a $20 bill (or two) in your pocket you can throw in one direction while you’re able to make a b-line in the opposite. West Baltimore City is a dangerous place and not to be taken lightly.
Also, just a warning/tip: don’t drive up directly to the mansion or you WILL be pulled over by police if spotted.
Ok Karen.
DeleteUnless you were a patient or staff member at the facility, you have no right to talk about what did or did not happen there.
DeleteWell it burnt down over the weekend so I think we can safely say no one is getting in now.
ReplyDeleteA comment by "The Beauty" Feb. 2017 was "the place should be burned down" - what a foolish, irresponsible thing to say. Especially on a public forum. My great grandfather passed away there while a patient in 1910. Any hopes for family research about his stay there are lost forever, most likely.
DeleteSome people were horribly abused there, so whatever feelings they have are their own, valid and they’re well within their rights to share them in anyway they feel necessary!
DeleteI tried to get this place on the historic register years ago and was denied; so sad that it’s gone forever. Thank you for the update
ReplyDeleteMy name is Steven Villar and I remember being there too. But not very well I was like 15 and I remember doing crazy things. I didn't know why. They gave me electroshock made me try to forget what I was doing which I think was killing people.
ReplyDeleteThere was nothing beautiful about this home! The horror that happened to the children that were placed there has never gone away. I have read some of the comments about it being so nice and never any abuse, it's horse crap. How can you say that making a 12 yr old girl strip naked in front of men isn't abuse? And if you did not strip willingly, they stripped you naked put you in a straight jacket and drugged you! That isn't good for any child! I am almost 50 now, married with children and grandchildren, and the team of this place and others like it, affect my life daily. It should have been burnt to the ground years ago.
ReplyDeleteAgree. So many of us were abused there. It was NOT a place of healing, but of trauma that still lingers.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear you still are bothered by the memories. Can you get counseling? I hurt for you. Praying for healing!
DeleteSo many people who were never a resident there, are speaking on the abuse that they say they know didn’t happen! I don’t care who you knew that worked there or worked near there! Mind the business that pays you because you don’t know diddly squat!
ReplyDeleteFor those who were residents there, but didn’t witness abuse or were never themselves abused; so! What do you want, a cookie? That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen! Count yourself beyond blessed!
My best friend was pumped full of Thorazine and locked in the quiet room for literally HOURS, just because another girl was screaming like a dang banshee, about how hot Tony (a male staff member) was! I had to sneak through the bedrooms just to be near her! All I could do, was stick my fingers under the door, to touch my fingers to hers; to comfort her.
SO BURN IN HELL BETH AND DR. GLASS!!!!
I remember a few of the married, staff members, were having on site affairs.. It was sad. I felt so bad for their significant others.
As for staff that weren’t trash: Jack M. (I think M) was nice to me, so was George I., Frank M., Swiss Miss (the nurse), Barbara, Gillette, Tony C., Katie W. and the cool security guard I nicknamed Blain! There was another nice lady there but I can’t remember her name. She was caramel completed. I want to say, Georgia?
I think I was in the bedroom with the big fireplace. Myself and two roommates.
Gundry Glass Hospital, was a dumping ground, for female pre-teens and teens; in the foster care system (it was all female then). The system didn’t care about us. And yes, some of the male staff, did flirt and sleep with the UNDERAGE female residents!
But yeah, tell us all again; how there was zero abuse going on there! 🙄