Tuesday, March 31 Edition STRECKER LABORATORY

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STRECKER LABORATORY, USS RELIEF,

THE NAVY’S FLOATING FORTRESS OF HEALTH, EDITORIAL

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

13th in our FROM THE ARCHIVES series. 

STRECKER MEMORIAL LABORATORY
 (excerpt from Landmarks Designation Report 1976)

The small Romanesque Revival Strecker Memorial Laboratory is located at the southern end of Roosevelt Island, originally situated between the Smallpox Hospital and the now demolished Charity Hospital.

Before Charity Hospital was demolished, the Laboratory provided an interesting contrast to both Hospitals in terms of scale and style. Designed by New York architects Frederick Clarke Withers & Walter Dickson, the building was constructed in 1892 and was administered under the direction of Charity (later City) Hospital to conduct pathological and bacteriological work. The building was the gift of the daughter of a Mr. Strecker, and as Dr. Charles G. Child Jr. wrote in his history of City Hospital (1904) it was “an illustration of what lasting good an intelligent woman can do to perpetuate the memory of a dear one.”’

Pathological medicine made rapid advances during the 19th century, and laboratories such as this one reflect the increasingly scientific nature of its study and investigation.

The first floor of Strecker Memorial Laboratory featured a room for the routine examination of specimens, an autopsy room, as well as a mortuary. On the second floor were rooms for more detailed research and experimentation. In 1905, the laboratory was remodeled, probably at the urging of the head pathologist Horst Oertel. Oertel was an emigrant to the United States and, as such, was well acquainted with the pioneering work in pathology being carried on in Europe at the time by prominent individuals such as Rudolf Virchow. The remodeling in 1905, which included the addition of a third story to the laboratory, provided facilities for histological examination as well as museum and library space.

In 1907, Oertel received an endowment provided by the Russell Sage Foundation, and thus the “Russell Sage Institute of Pathology” was first house in the Laboratory. When new facilities for this Institute were built, it relocated, while Strecker Memorial Laboratory continued to serve as the pathological center for City Hospital and the City Home (formerly Almshouse).

To be continued:  The abandonment and future

Interior of Pathology Laboratory 

EDITORIAL

There are no words to express my reaction at the front of this postcard received today.

I respect and observe all information on the reverse.

Enough said,

Judtih Berdy