The floor plan of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Toronto was typical of many nineteenth-century asylums. The central building, several stories high, housed administrative offices, the medical superintendent's quarters, and some patients. The two wings off the main building provided ward space.
The physical layout was largely determined by the need to keep certain patients apart. Males and females occupied different wings of the institution, and attempts were made to classify patients by disease. Violent or wildly erratic cases were separated from the others whenever possible. Social class was another consideration. Since asylum administrators sought to attract wealthy patients whose fees defrayed the costs of operating the institutions, this class of patient was offered more comfortable accommodation away from lower-class lunatics whose behaviour they might find unsettling. Given the chronic overcrowding suffered by most asylums, these arrangements were seldom possible, but asylum architecture reflected these intentions, demonstrating the extent to which treatment pervaded every aspect of life in the institution.
