On the same sunny day I took the Empire sunset pictures, I wandered the Grand Traverse Commons. So much about the former Northern Michigan Asylum is interesting. The architecture in the grand Victorian-Italianate style. That each patient room had a view of the outdoors with a supply of fresh air and light. But it has always been the iconic red spires that’ve drawn me. I thought they were just part of the design. Turns out, the spires were a functional part of the ventilation system. Large fans forced air through underground tunnels, into the basement, and then up flues in the building. The air would exit the buildings through attic ducts via the “ventilators,” which were the spires.
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