The London Asylum for the Insane once stood on the grounds of 850 Highbury Avenue in London, Ontario. The asylum’s name was later changed to Ontario Hospital London. In 1963, the Ontario Hospital London was demolished and replaced with the London Psychiatric Hospital.
The original asylum examination building still stands today but is extremely unsafe to explore due to the flooring.
In 2001, St. Joseph’s Health Care took over the institution and changed the name of the facility to Regional Mental Health Care London (RMHC). The hospital provided in-patient and out-patient support services for people suffering severe mental health issues. The facility was sometimes referred to as the Highbury Hilton, presumably for people who were long-term patients there.
The Regional Mental Health Care facility operated until November 2014 when services were transferred to the Parkwood Institute.
On September 28, 2014, St. Joseph’s held a mental health care legacy event. About 6,000 people attended the event to mark the closure of the mental health care site. Horse-drawn carriage rides were offered. The last patients left November 2014 for Parkwood Institute.
While the majority of the former RMHC property was shut down after 2014, a laboratory in the highest portion of the building remained in operation until 2020. By late 2020, the entire property had fallen into disuse.
In 2015 I visited the former hospital. It was a tense visit because there was active security on the grounds and working video cameras everywhere. The basement was eerily quiet. I could hear some machinery humming away and expected to see a worker every time I turned a corner. We were able to find the former morgue but all that was left was a sink and a drainage pipe in the floor where I believe the table would have once been.
Electricity was still working and the property was PRISTINE.
2015 Photos
In 2015 I visited the former hospital. It was a tense visit because there was active security on the grounds and working video cameras everywhere. The basement was eerily quiet. I could hear some machinery humming away and expected to see a worker every time I turned a corner. We were able to find the former morgue but all that was left was a sink and a drainage pipe in the floor where I believe the table would have once been.
Electricity was still working and the property was PRISTINE.
In January of 2019 it was announced that Old Oak Properties had purchased the 160-acre property from the province for $17 million dollars. The plan is to build over 3,000 homes including townhouses and mid and high-rise towers including seniors and student residences. The development is estimated to take between 10 to 15 years.
Today don’t be surprised if you find people walking their dogs. The forested roads that Superintendent Bucke sought to create a peaceful environment, still live on. There is an assortment of wildlife to be found. It’s a nice place to go for a walk. Stories vary on whether security or police will ask you to leave. I’ve waved to security as they drove past me. I’ve driven past the London Police. Nobody has ever told me to leave.
The windows are now boarded and the hydro turned off. It’s now dark and moldy.
March 2021
There are several ways inside. Scrappers have been busy here as evident by the holes in the walls and the ceilings ripped apart. Several copper pipes have been cut. There’s semi-fresh food to be found inside, and someone is living in the lab portion of the building. There is extensive vandalism inside and the building looks nothing like it once did from 2015.
March 4th and 7th, 2021
Police and ambulance services are no longer responding to the site due to the repeated trespassing and drug use occurring inside. There are multiple ways inside the buildings.
As of 2023, most of the buildings have been demolished.
August 2022 Photos
Worked at LPH food services kitchen staff part-time from 1987 summer to 2000 spring; first real job at 16yrs old; spent a lot of time at this place working hard. Very sad to see this place go, so many memories with friends/co-workers, supervisors and patients. Missed the closing ceremony many years ago, wish I could go back and still visit this place. Wondering if there are any pictures of this location since 2022/23
Anyone here from H2? I doubt it since I was the youngest admitted to that unit.that was 42 years ago
Hello I am a mother speaking and have been advocating on and out of court up until I could get my son to come forward about incidents in the suicide unit at London Health Sciences in 2011 I made sure he didn’t stay at Highbury although the Doctor made many attempts to keep him there . Finally he came forward in 2018 suicide unit there was abuse as forms of coercive manipulative direct and Indirect ways to keep and I quiet. We followed through making Police reports he was only 14 at the time. Suicide unit is an isolating scary place to be for a student where us was abused. There were attempts to keep him at Longterm facility to incapacitate him and continue overdosing to keep him from speaking .
Growing up in the 50’s-60’s we lived not far from the LPH. Winter Friday nights we would walk that beautiful tree lined road to go to the free skate at the arena. Everyone was welcomed. We skated hours with some of the patients becoming friends. It made them smile when we spoke. One gentleman was handing out mars bars to the children. I was lucky and got 2 because he liked that i smiled at him. Everytime afterwards, i got 2 chocolate bars! Parents were always close by. Beautiful memories from this post, especially.