Roosevelt Island Historical Society

Sep

September 19/20, 2020 – HOUSING FOR FAMILIES AFFLICTED WITH TUBERCULOSIS

By admin

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SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2020

The

160th Edition

SHIVELY SANITARY TENEMENTS

EAST RIVER HOMES

now

CHEROKEE APARTMENTS

A BUILDING WITH GREAT INTENTIONS

AS THE 19TH CENTURY became the 20th century, the plight of tuberculosis patients started influencing housing in all sorts of ways. In New York City, it took the shape of a sanitary tenement.

The idea, from Dr. Henry Shively of Presbyterian Hospital, was to create comfortable, healthy housing for poorer families with members who suffered from tuberculosis. Anne Harriman Vanderbilt (wife of William K. Vanderbilt Sr.) provided the funds, and Henry Atterbury Smith designed the four interconnected six-story buildings. Construction began in 1909 and the East River Homes opened in 1912.

Now called Cherokee Apartments, the complex occupies the space from 77th Street to 78th Street between John Jay Park and PS 158. Most of the windows are floor to ceiling and have three sashes, allowing for a lot of light and air to come in, both having been deemed crucial for TB sufferers. This also allows them to open wide out onto iron balconies, on which sleeping was encouraged. The pent eave roof was designed to hang over the balconies, protecting patients from the elements.

The floors are concrete and curve up onto the wall, eliminating corners that could trap germs and dust, and ensuring that any carpeting would be removable. The stairways in the corners of the buildings are open to the air, have two banisters (one for adults, one for kids), and were built with chairs on each landing, so that tuberculosis patients climbing to the sixth floor had convenient and comfortable places to rest if they started to have trouble breathing. Every apartment opened directly out to the stairs, giving a sense of the independence of a private house.

The rooftops and courtyards were designed to be pleasing, safe, and healthy places to aid in recovery. The stairwells were topped by story-high glazed skylights that allowed air to circulate up and down the stairs.

The originally family sized apartments have been rearranged in recent years to have fewer, larger rooms, and the facilities that made the roofs such nice places to spend time and recover have been removed, as have the skylights. The buildings never accomplished what Shively had hoped, because while 48 of the rooms were, at first, leased as a Home Hospital, most of the tenants turned out to be on the wealthier side. Poor families, for the most part, could not afford to live in the apartments.

Today, Cherokee Apartments is a housing cooperative and the building is a historic landmark. As such, the outside must be preserved, and many of the unique features from its origins as a tuberculosis sanitarium can still be seen.

MRS. WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT

Anne was also known for her philanthropy and for devoting “herself to those less fortunate”.^[5] She financed the construction of the “open-stair” apartment houses, four large buildings that contained almost 400 apartments on Avenue A (now known as York Avenue) in Manhattan. The buildings were created to house tuberculosis patients. Vanderbilt donated $1,000,000 and the buildings were completed in 1910.

DR. HENRY SHIVELY

Dr. Shively’ s theories, Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, and the project site A prominent advocate of the value of home care for tuberculosis sufferers was Dr. Henry Shively, head of the Vanderbilt Clinic of Presbyterian Hospital. The Vanderbilt Clinic, home of the Philanthropic causes of William Kissam Vanderbilt, had been established to provide medical care for New York’s poor. Many of the clinic’s patients suffered from tuberculosis and the efficient treatment of the disease became one of Shively’s chief concerns.

In a 1911 article, Shively described tuberculosis as a medical problem with social ramifications, and one that had to be attacked on numerous fronts: social, architectural, and moral, as well as medical. To this end Shively proposed an architectural solution a building which could bring all the positive features of sanatorium treatment to patients in their own homes.

The Shively Sanitary Tenements (also commonly referred to as the East River Homes or the Vanderbilt Model Tenements) were designed to house tuberculosis patients and their families in a clean, sanitary environment, to provide plenty of fresh air for sick residents and to show that consumptives could remain with their families without infecting others. According to Shively, his purpose was to demonstrate and the possibilities of treatment of suitable cases of tuberculosis, in making more permanent the good results of sanatorium treatment, and in providing the protection of a hygienic home for those who are delicate and. anemic, or convalescent from other exhaustive diseases and thus especially susceptible to tuberculosis.

As a precedent for his idea, Shively cited an experiment conducted by the Swedish National Anti-Tuberculosis Association in Stockholm. Twelve families, each having one or more adult housed together under close medical and hygienic supervision. After three years, none of the children of these families had contracted tuberculosis, in sharp contrast to the normal course of the disease where children were most likely to be infected if their parents were. Through his connection with the Vanderbilt Clinic, Shively was able to convince Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt to help fund his experiment.

Anna Harriman Vanderbilt, second wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt, dedicated herself to many philanthropic causes. She was concerned with the plight of New York’s poor and was active in helping unfortunate children through ·the Protestant Big Sisters. On an individual basis, she helped relocate families of consumptives to better, healthier living quarters. She was involved with the American Women’ s Association in New York and played an important role in the founding of the American Red Cross Hospital near Paris during the First World War.

For the Shively Sanitary Tenements Mrs. Vanderbilt and her husband purchased eighteen city lots on the block between East 77th and 78th Streets from York Avenue to Cherokee Place for $81,000, and gave an additional $1,000,000 towards the construction of the buildings and hoped to show that these apartments would eventually !pay for themselves and bring a fair return on the initial investment. With this in mind, the Vanderbilts established a trust to oversee their investment, with William K. Vanderbilt, Anna Harriman Vanderbilt, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., Henry r. Shively and Walter B. James (another physician associated with Presbyterian Hospital) serving as trustees. The terms of the trust provided that after expenses, one half of the income from these buildings would be used to help .poor tuberculosis victims pay for their treatment, am help support the families of those who could not work .One quarter of the income was to go to the Presbyterian Hospital to help pay the expenses of indigent patients, and. the final quarter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons for the same purpose.

The site was chosen for its proximity to the East River and its consequent abundance of fresh air. Moreover, it was open to the street on three sides with a school playground on the fourth (west) side. Numerous other service institutions were located nearby, including the Junior League Club House for working girls, a Carnegie library and the East Side Settlement House. Across Cherokee Place was John Jay Park.

HENRY ATTERBURY SMITH, ARCHITECT

Henry Atterbury Smith The architect chosen to design these model tenements was Henry Atterbury Smith (1872-1954). Having received his architectural education at Columbia University, Smith worked throughout the New York area. His early work consisted primarily of smaller, individual houses but during the early 1900s he developed his concept of the “open stair” plan for apartment buildings as a healthful and economic solution to low- and moderate-cost, multi-family dwellings. He wrote numerous articles for architectural journals promoting his ideas on multi-family housing in general, and especially on the benefits of this particular type of plan. Smith was concerned about the poor quality of most tenement buildings. He wanted to show that apartment houses constructed according to his ideas, with open courtyards and open stairs, could be built soundly, without overcrowding, for moderate expense, and could be healthful environments and thus beneficial to their residents. Smith saw this type of building as an answer for both city and suburban environments, and for many types of people and problems including the housing shortage of World War l and for employers who wanted to provide company housing.

In 1911 Smith formed the Open Stair Tenement Company to construct buildings of his design. In addition to the East River Homes, his company built the John Jay Homes across East 77th Street (demolished). In 1917- 18, under the name Open Stair Dwellings Company, Smith built more apartments on West 146th and 147th Streets in Manhattan (eXtant). He Was also responsible for several apartment buildings in other parts of the city, including Queens (No. 3418 9lst Street).

THE STORY CONTINUES……..

The continuation of the story is fascinating and good reading.
To read the entire designation report from the NEW YORK CITY LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION:
http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1516.pdf

The system of building model homes for the disadvantaged continued with the City and Suburban Houses.

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2014 program with Charles GIraudet at the NYPL branch. In the audience: Ursula Beau-seigneur, Stephen and Lenore Blank, Ron Davidson, Rick O’Connor, Arline Jacoby, Vivienne and the feet of Bobbie Slonevsky.

Funding Provided by:
Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Public Purpose Funds
Council Member Ben Kallos City Council Discretionary Funds thru DYCD
Text by Judith Berdy
CREDITS
JUDITH BERDY
ATLAS OBSCURA
PHOTOS FROM POPULAR SCIENCE #80
NEW YORK TIMES
WIKIPEDIA
Edited by Deborah Dorff
ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT RIHS. 2020 (C)
PHOTOS IN THIS ISSUE (C) JUDITH BERDY RIHS

SHANA TOVAH

Tonight, in a few hours is the eve or our new year, Rosh Hashanah. Alone is no way to be on a day that should be celebratory with friends and family.
Though I am not great for entertaining groups, this year I bought the brisket, made matzo balls, took the paperwork off the dining room table, put on a tablecloth, took out he candlesticks, have the honey ready and the food will be prepared on time. The mandatory bottle of Manichevitz is also on hand. The kitchen aromas of cooking fill the apartment.

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