[1] The sum of £40,000 was set aside for the asylum,[1] and the architect for the building was William Stirling III, whose previous works are also in the Falkirk area.

[2] The building was to be built on the Gowkhill Estate,[1] with it being a mere coincidence that the old Scots word gowk means cuckoo.

[1] This reputation was due to the change in treatment that was happening at this point in history which the SDLA implemented.

[1] Dr James McLaren was appointed as superintendent in 1876; he continued to promote understanding of the inmate as a treatment rather than the use of force.

[1] Macpherson pushed for patients to have intensive medical treatment as they would at a hospital which led to the expansion of the Chronic block which changed the shape of the original asylum.

[9] Upon the day of the Chronic block opening on 26 July 1893, Dr Macpherson said in his speech that the SDLA was the first institution in the world which had adopted this attitude.

[1] Dr Macpherson's treatment focused on soothing colours, pleasant surroundings and a dignified attitude towards clothing and hygiene helped towards the progress of the patients.

[1] Eighty patients were housed in the new block on 14 August 1893, however, nine months later the asylum was close to being at capacity once more.

[10] Overcrowding was still an issue, and a further extension was added to the Chronic block so that another one hundred and ninety patients could be housed.

[1] Dr George Robertson was appointed superintendent, he was an important figure in the field of mental health and brought the asylum closer to becoming a hospital.

[1] Robertson increased the practice of having fully trained nurses on the site that had previously been started by Dr McLaren.

[1] Dr Robertson did find it difficult to recruit young Victorian ladies into the nursing profession as it was not viewed as a respectable, to counter this view Dr Robertson provided the same extensive training that was applied to other branches of the medical profession.

[1] There were over seven hundred patients by 1914, and the problem of overcrowding was an issue again as there were more cases requiring treatment than the admission rates allowed for.

This act allowed those that were asylum officials and servants to retire at the age of 55 or 60 as long as they paid in weekly to the fund.

[1] The implementation of electrical and hot baths treatment was put in place as was occupational therapy.

[5] Wooden huts were built alongside the Bellsdyke Road to allow for more patients and, these only began to be replaced in the 1960s.