It was originally located in premises in Albert Street Dundee, but later moved out of the town to new buildings in the nearby parish of Liff and Benvie.

[5] The foundation stone for the new asylum building, funded by public subscription, was laid in Albert Street on 3 September 1812, following a procession through Dundee.

[1] By the mid-1870s the directors of the asylum were looking for a new and larger site outside the city and chose the 95 acres of Westgreen Farm, east of Liff and west of Camperdown.

The laying of the foundation stone on 17 September 1879 was marked by an elaborate Masonic ceremony, involving a large procession of Freemasons and city dignitaries from Dundee.

[10] The new building, designed by the architects Edward and Robertson in the Scottish baronial style with a 600-foot frontage and a tower at each end, opened in October 1882.

[16] Two large murals depicting beach scenes by Alberto Morrocco are on the walls of the former dining room in the main building, not now normally accessible to the public.