Once known as one of the nation’s best mental health facilities, the old Bryce Hospital building now houses a state-of-the-art student drop-in center on the University of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus.

In 2016, I visited the facility after most of the buildings had been destroyed, leaving only the original administration building and four wings. It was chilling and fascinating to see his features stripped down to the studs and restored for a new purpose. Outdated medical equipment was scattered, patient rooms were stripped, floors were removed and piles of bricks were everywhere.

At the time, the university’s facilities planner hoped the $121 million renovation would be completed by 2020. The pandemic and other problems have delayed progress and The Randall Reception Center and Museum of Mental Health opened in January 2024.

I was recently able to revisit the main building and was impressed by the preservation of this important building which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Eight years after my first tour, much of the work is complete, but the massive rotunda and wings sprouting from the main building are still under construction. Some of that space will be used for faculty and staff offices in the UA Department of Theater and Dance, said Matthew McLendon, Ph.D., executive director of UA Enrollment Management, whose department is housed in the building.

Bryce Hospital is getting new life

The hospital opened in 1861 as the Alabama Insane Hospital, sometimes spelled Alabama Hospital for the Insane, and was later renamed for its founding physician Peter Bryce. Legend has it that Bryce and his family watched from the building’s rotunda as Union troops burned the campus in 1865.

Peter Bryce was a progressive physician and his hospital was established as a place where patients with mental illness or addiction were housed in a beautiful setting and performed therapeutic work in a pastoral setting. It was designed using the then popular Kirkbride plan with staggered wings to allow patients maximum sunlight.

To provide a sense of purpose, patients would do chores on farms or other areas of the hospital until, in the mid-20th century, courts ruled that patients could not be made to work. The hospital was named one of the top five in the world in the 1880s.

At its largest in the 1970s, the 168-acre hospital complex included crop and animal farms, kitchens, doctors’ and nurses’ quarters, visitor lounges, patient rooms, a community hall for dancing and parties, and superintendent quarters. Bryce and his family lived on the top floor of the administration building during their time there. “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” once listed Bryce Hospital as having the longest roof in the world.

The hospital closed in 2014 and patients were moved to a new mental health center nearby. The property and old buildings were purchased by the University of Alabama for use as a reception and office for the performing arts department.

MORE: A look at Bryce in historic photos

Most of the 1861 administration building was used to create the Randall Welcome Center, where students come when they first visit the university.

The center is named after the late Pettus Randall and his wife, Dr. Catherine J. Randall. It features “areas for prospective students to gather for campus tours, a lounge, theater and UA admissions offices” in 15,000 square feet, AU website say.

McLendon said the center has been well received.

“The response from prospective students, families and guests has been overwhelmingly positive,” McLendon said. “The Randall Welcome Center offers guests the opportunity to learn about many different aspects of the university through engaging and interactive content delivery platforms. Both students and guests commented on how impressive the installation is and how the information provided in the interactive space is useful for learning more about the UA.”

In 2016, the original administration building and hospital wings were brought down to the gratings to begin the renovation of the Reception Center. See photos from 2016 here.

Honoring history

The exterior of the hospital has been lovingly restored and the original wrought iron stair railing with a rose design has been saved.

“Throughout the building, many of the original features have either been preserved or recreated,” McLendon said. “There was a lot of effort and planning that went into the overall project. In the central pavilion is a cast-iron staircase from the early period of the hospital’s existence, which has been renovated and moved to that part of the building. Throughout the building, reclaimed wood from the original building now makes up several flooring areas and has even been used for office signs. Most of the central portion of the building, along with the west wing space, has been preserved in the same floor plan that was in place when the hospital was operational.”

The museum, created to honor the building’s history, was beautifully designed and curated by the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

“Everyone from prospective students and families to general visitors to the building have taken advantage of being able to tour that space,” McLendon said.

Steve Davis, historian for the ADMH, was largely responsible for the museum, McLendon said. In a 2016 interview with AL.comDavis said when he worked at Bryce in the 1970s, people would come in asking for tours of the hospital that was the subject of many local stories. When visitors began to mingle with the work of the staff, Davis established a small museum in the parlor and dining room of the old superintendent’s house, which has now disappeared. The collection was later moved to the main building in the 1980s, and much of it is now on display to allow the public to enter and learn about the history of mental health in Alabama.

The museum is free to visit and well worth your time.

Exhibits include a vintage nurse’s uniform, a silverware set engraved ‘AIH’, an electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) shock machine used at Bryce Hospital in the 1960s when doctors believed this type of treatment was beneficial in treating mental illness , an antique wooden wheelchair, metal markers removed by vandals from the graves of patients at Bryce Cemetery, medical kits, models of hospital property, vestiges architectural and many others.

The museum also includes a piece of an original door jamb from the main buildings which was signed by the carpenters. It was said: “A. Anderson, superintendent of the carpenters of Philadelphia who worked at this establishment during the month of August, 1860/T. District/T. David/W. Whellan/Jeff Jacham/Jackson Bryers.”