Today, while was at the Pride flag raising outside Blackwell House I recalled a visit we had about 5 years ago in July of 2018 from Travis Russ. He was enquiring about gay prisoners at the Penitentiary on the island many years ago.
Travis and a group of researchers combed thru our files and took the little information we had.
This spring Travis Russ contacted me and told of a staged reading of Thr Gorgeous Nothings was being read at the Library at Lincoln Center.
It is a story of 5 gay prisoners and their stories of before and after incarceration. Each one is emotional and tells of their lives and struggles. Research was done at the courthouses and archives to portray these stories.
A clip below gives a small sample of the production. Hopefully, i will soon be produced
Queensboro Plaza IRT-BMT elevated station as originally designed, with tracks that led to the Queensboro Bridge. Those tracks were removed in 1942. The station originally had eight tracks; the north half of the structure was abandoned in 1949 and then removed in the early 1960s. Today it has four tracks on two levels, serving the #7 and N/W routes.
FROM ANDY SPARBERG
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
BRING THE KIDS TO COLOR PAGES FROM OUR COLORING BOOK
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2023
ISSUE# 1016
THE GENERAL SLOCUM SHIPWRECK OFF
NORTH BROTHER ISLAND
JUNE 15, 1904
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
Until the events of September 11th, the sinking of the General Slocum disaster was responsible for the largest loss of life in New York City. The tragedy forever changed the composition of the Lower East Side, yet the incident has largely receded from city memory.
Photo via National ArchivesOn June 15, 1904, St. Mark’s Evangelical Church chartered a boat, the General Slocum, to take 1358 members of its German-American congregation for a fun-filled day on the water and on a Long Island beach. For the kids, this was a day to look forward, a chance to breathe the fresh air and play outside away from the dirty tenement scene.The General Slocum was not a well-kept ship, to say the least. The crew was inexperienced, especially at handling emergencies. Not far from shore, a fire burst out, and quickly consumed the ship. The combination of faulty lifeboats and life jackets, a panicked crowd of non-swimmers, and a cowardly crew that sought their own escape first led to mayhem and death. The crisis was made worse by the captain’s refusal to bring the burning ship to shore, ostensibly to prevent the fire from spreading, and the unfortunate timing of the fire occurring while the boat was in Hell Gate’s notoriously rough waters.
The General Slocum sank just off North Brother Island with victims and debris washing up on shore. The staff of the hospitals on the island served as rescue staff for the event.1,021 people died either by fire or drowning that day. Only a few hundred survived. The disaster also devastated the large German-American population on the Lower East Side. (Back then, the “East Village” was considered part of the Lower East Side). Hundreds of families lost relatives that day and some entire families were wiped out. The grief led to suicides and depression, and eventually the wholesale movement of the community out of the area. Many resettled on the Upper East Side, which retained a German-American flavor for many years.The tragedy also created an unfortunate legacy for Henry Warner Slocum, who served with distinction alongside William Sherman as a major general for the Union during the Civil War. After the war, he served as the rep from New York’s 42nd Congressional District (we now only have 27 districts) and lived in Brooklyn, where he is buried.
On a more uplifting note, the idea of taking large groups of kids out of the projects to a more bucolic setting for the day is an excellent one. Sponsoring such large outings was once the hallmark of Tammany Hall, which would bring kids up the Hudson and serve them picnics in the park.Today, a marker in Tompkins Square Park and a plaque next to the Merchants House Museum serve as reminders of this event.
Weeks 533 is a 500-short-ton (454 t) capacity Clyde Iron Works model 52 barge-mounted crane which is the largest revolving floating crane on the East Coast of the United States.[1] It was originally ordered for bridge construction and has since been used in several notable heavy lifts.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
PENNIES FOR PRESERVATION RETURNS BRING YOUR COINS TO OUR TABLE ON ROOSEVELT ISLAND DAY
BRING THE KIDS TO COLOR PAGES FROM OUR COLORING BOOKWE ARE NOW ON TIK TOK AND INSTAGRAM!
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023
ISSUE# 1015
INTERESTING SCENES
AROUND THE ISLAND
A COMPOSTING BIN APPEARED ON THE SIDEWALK OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON. SEEMS TO BE A WEIRD PLACE TO PLACE THIS BIN…ANY EXPLANATIONS?
BEE BEE HOLES IN STRECKER WINDOW THAT HAS BEEN THERE A WHILE. PLEASE REPAIR NEW YORK TRANSIT!
THE 2020 PLAN FOR THE GENERATOR PLATFORM
THE PLATFORM IS TAKING SHAPE JUST SOUTH OF STRECKER LABORATORY. FROM THE IMAGE ON THE RENDERING TO REALITY IT SEEMS THAT THE STRUCTURE IS HIGHER AND HAS ALL KINDS OF EQUIPMENT ON THE ROOF LEVEL. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT OVERSITE RIO C IS GIVING THIS PROJECT THAT IS TRULY AN INTRUSION OF SOUTHPOINT PARK. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE UNOBSTRUSIVE.,…YOUR COMMENTS. TO SEE RIOC APPROVAL: https://rioc.ny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3272/NB-8-NYCT-Generator-Platform-Design-Approval?bidId=
THE 1976 EDITION OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE THAT EXTOLLED THE VIRTUES OF THE ISLAND. NINA LUBLN GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
“A Spring Morning” is Impressionist loveliness by Childe Hassam—the New York City-based painter who created enchanting street scenes out of loose brushstrokes and plays on darkness and light.
Hassam’s work is also a time machine back to an earlier New York. This one takes us to 1890, just after Hassam settled in Gotham and began painting out of a studio on Fifth Avenue and 17th Street.
He didn’t go far to capture this scene. On West 20th Street looking toward Sixth Avenue, two women of wealth are about to alight a carriage; two more trail behind on the brownstone steps. A well-dressed male pedestrian walks behind another pedestrian, a woman, who shields herself and her children from the warm spring sun with an umbrella.
This stretch of Chelsea has long since lost its cachet as an elite brownstone row; it was already going out of fashion when Hassam painted it, thanks to the increasing presence of commerce in the neighborhood and the elevated train traveling up and down Sixth Avenue, which Hassam obscures.
But unlike the rest of this former residential block, two of the buildings in the painting remain with us.
First, the gold-domed tower in the center of the painting: It was part of the block-long Hugh O’Neill Dry Goods Emporium, one of the legendary retail establishments on the Sixth Avenue part of the Ladies Mile shopping district. Today, it’s the O’Neill Building, a luxury condo residence.
Across Sixth Avenue from the domed tower is another tall structure, part of a Gothic-style church (above, in 1876; below, in 1907) that looks like it belongs in the country. This was the Church of the Holy Communion, completed in 1845 by Richard Upjohn. In its day, this Episcopalian church was one of the most elite in New York City.
Those of us born in the 20th century, however, might know it better as the Limelight—the infamous dance club that opened in the 1980s and finished its run as a nightclub haunt in the early 2000s. Today, I believe it’s been divided into retail spaces.
Childe Hassam couldn’t have imagined how the church, whose parish disbanded in the 1970s, would be repurposed a century after he painted this serene scene of privileged Gilded Age New Yorkers.
ROOSEVELT ISLAND GENERATOR PLATFORM UNDER CONSTRUCTION ADJOINING STRECKER LABORATORY, SOUTPOINT PARK
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Amanda and Brad Matthews, sculptors of The Girl Puzzle were on the island this weekend to clean and polish some of our art: The Girl Puzzle, The FDR Hope Memorial and our Good Shepherd Plaza Bell.
Brad Matthews works on Nellie Bly. (Photo Amanda Matthews)
Each sculpture got a thorough cleaning and polishing by Amanda and Brad Matthews. Lots of visitors came by and watched the process.
Brad polished the orbs and they are glowing now in the sunshine.
Amanda was interviewed by Maya our Tik Tok reporter. See our page for 3 interviews with Amanda. TIK TOK @ rooseveltislandhsociety
FDR Hope Memorial as Franklin gets a good scrubbing,
Lots of detail to clean, especially the wheelchair. (Photo Amanda Matthews)
Chapel Bell was cleaned and all kinds of stuff removed from it. The next step is to repair a crack in the back of the hanger and design a new base (plinth).
Before cleaning.
After cleaning and polishing
The Chapel Bell is an art piece and deserves to be on a proper base since it was cast in 1888!
MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY CHAPEL BELL GOOD SHEPHERD PLAZA
When will all our out-door island art get conserved? The Blue Dragon, The FDR Bust in the FDR FFP*, The Weather Station in the PS/IS 217 yard? Our island needs a curator to select, design placement and work with interested groups to enhance the art on the island. *The FDR sculpture is the responsibility of NYS Parks.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Are you interested in History & specifically OUR unique histories on Roosevelt Island?
Roosevelt Island Historical Society is looking for new Board Members to help us continue to serve the Roosevelt Island community.
We are regretfully losing two of our longtime Board members–one is moving and one is retiring. We are thankful for their years of service & will miss them both dearly.
We are also excited for this opportunity to meet new neighbors with diverse backgrounds to help move RIHS forward. If YOU are interested in history–and specifically Roosevelt Island’s unique and messy history–please contact us. We would value you as a Board Member to help keep Roosevelt Island’s history a LIVING history!
E-MAIL OUR AT: ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM WE ARE NOW ON TIK TOK AND INSTAGRAM!
INSTAGRAM @ roosevelt_island_history
TIK TOK @ rooseveltislandhsociety
FROM THE ARCHIVES
MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2023
ISSUE# 1012
BEAUTIFUL LOCATIONS
TO FIND
GUASTAVINO TILES IN NYC
PART 2
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
We all know our visitor center probably has the smallest Guastavino ceiling in New York. Here are some that are much larger and more grand.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the world’s largest cathedral, but remains unfinished. In cross-shaped churches, a tower or a dome is constructed over the intersection of the four arms of the cross; a junction called the “crossing.” Guastavino tiles were used to build the dome that hovers over St. John the Divine cathedral’s crossing, the side aisles of the nave, as well as the staircases.
The Guastavino tile system lends major stability to the dome, also making it one of the largest free-standing domes in the world. It is now near impossible that the cathedral will ever be completed, as new apartment buildings have risen where the trancepts would have been built.
Image courtesy Prospect Park Alliance by Elizabeth Keegin-Colley
Prospect Park contains many structures built using Guastavino tiles, including the entrance shelters at Grand Army Plaza, the Willink Entrance Comfort Station, the tennis shelter, and the menagerie.
The Boathouse, in particular, features beautifully colored Guastavino tiles, which have shone brighter since the building was restored in 1999. The Beaux Arts landmark was built in 1905, and is now an Audubon Center, the first of its kind in the United States. Also, check out 12 other secrets about Prospect Park.
The entrance to the Bronx Zoo elephant house — now the Zoo Center — has two adjacent domes overhead. The domes are lined with the characteristic herringbone pattern of Guastavino tiles, which train your eyes to the vaulted ceiling of the one-story Beaux-Arts building, located in Astor Court.
Today, the space is home to monitors, Komodo dragons, and southern white rhinoceros, but make sure to look up and spend time studying the grandeur of the Guastavinos’ work
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (formerly the Della Robbia Bar) would have clearly been a stunning place to enter when it was built in 1913, but today it is even more remarkable for the fact that it is the “lone remnant of an interior ensemble destroyed in a 1960s modernization of the former Vanderbilt Hotel into a multi-use building,” write Gura and Wood in Interior Landmarks: Treasures of New York. The Vanderbilt Hotel was part of a larger grand plan around Grand Central Terminal, known as Terminal City.
Wolfgang’s is also an example of preservation and landmarking by means of community, grass-roots efforts. In this case, the organization Friends of Terra Cotta campaigned for its designation. In addition to the tiling work, the restaurant interior features polychrome ornamental tile by the Rookwood Pottery Company of Cincinnati.
A few steps after getting off the Roosevelt Island tram, you will be greeted by a stately but tiny welcome center. The welcome center structure dates to around 1909 when the Queensboro Bridge once had a trolley line, but this building was only moved here in 2007. There were five trolley kiosks, located between the inbound and outbound lower level roads between 59th and 60th Street. Like other parts of the Queensboro Bridge, the visitors center is one of the places in New York City you can find Guastavino tiling.
The last trolley ran on this line in 1957 and three of the five kiosks were demolished. One was moved to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights where it functioned as the entrance to the museum until the museum was completely redesigned. Judith Berdy, President of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, spearheaded the efforts to get the kiosk moved to Roosevelt Island, where it was restored and reopened as a visitors center.
The Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Nolita is yet another location that features Guastavino tiles. The tiles, are located in the catacombs below ground, where many past archbishops and cardinals are buried. Pictured here is a crypt for the Eckert family, above which you can spot the green-hued Guastavino tiles. Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral is one of the two locations of catacombs in New York City, the other is located in Green-Wood Cemetery.
When the New York City subway first opened, the now abandoned City Hall station was referred to as “an underground cathedral,” according to John Ochsendorf, head of the Guastavino Research Project at MIT and co-curator of the “Palaces for the People” exhibit. Speaking to Susan Stamberg of Morning Edition in 2013, Ochsendorf continues, “The public was afraid to go underground at that time and so these vaults and this beautiful decorative, colorful ceiling really helped people feel comfortable in a grand space below the city.”
With its stunning tile work and stained glass windows, the station was designed to be the crown jewel of the New York City subway system. The architecture remains as beautiful as ever, but the station has been closed since 1945 due to its curved platform, which was deemed too short for longer trains that were later used.
Guastavino’s work appears in the Alexander Hamilton Custom’s House (the American Museum fo American Indian portion) as a giant domed ceiling in the massive rotunda under which workers once sat at the large marble counter to collect tariffs. The skylight that is supported by the dome weighs 140 tons and there is no metal support structure. The ceiling is made entirely of plaster and tile using the famous Guastavino method.
THE HELL GATE BRIDGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ARON EISENPREISS AND ANDY SPARBERG GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Are you interested in History & specifically OUR unique histories on Roosevelt Island?
Roosevelt Island Historical Society is looking for new Board Members to help us continue to serve the Roosevelt Island community.
We are regretfully losing two of our longtime Board members–one is moving and one is retiring. We are thankful for their years of service & will miss them both dearly.
We are also excited for this opportunity to meet new neighbors with diverse backgrounds to help move RIHS forward. If YOU are interested in history–and specifically Roosevelt Island’s unique and messy history–please contact us. We would value you as a Board Member to help keep Roosevelt Island’s history a LIVING history!
E-MAIL US AT: ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM
FROM THE ARCHIVES
WEEKEND, JUNE 10-11, 2023
ISSUE# 1010
BEAUTIFUL LOCATIONS
TO FIND
GUASTAVINO TILES IN NYC
PART 1
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
We all know our visitor center probably has the smallest Guastavino ceiling in New York. Here are some that are much larger and more grand.
In 2014, the Museum of the City of New York housed an exhibition on the work of the Guastavinos, named “Palaces for the People: Guastavino and the Art of Structural Tile.” The retrospective called attention to many structures, including the Ellis Island Registry Room (The Great Hall), which used to be the first step in the U.S. immigration process for people who were waiting to be inspected by Immigration Service Officers.The room opened in 1900, and for over two decades, up to 5,000 immigrants passed through on a daily basis. Guastavino’s work, however, was not added until 1918. The Registry Room has since been restored to its appearance in 1918-24.
Located on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal, the Oyster Bar & Restaurant has been dishing out the freshest oysters and seafood dishes since 1913. Over a hundred years later, it remains a New York institution — famous not only for its seafood, but also for its adornment with Guastavino tiles. The tiles’ herringbone pattern takes center stage in this underground eatery, with lights running up and across the grand vaults.After dining, patrons can step outside the restaurant and into the next Guastavino tile location. Warning: this one is a little “hush, hush!”
Got a secret to tell? The acoustic pockets of the Guastavino-tiled vaults in the Grand Central Terminal‘s Whispering Gallery act as the perfect pathway for messages. Just stand with a partner at opposite diagonals of the base and talk into the arches. Whispers will be heard across the distance as if you and your partner were standing right next to each other.As we mention in our popular Secrets of Grand Central article, nobody knows whether this whispering gallery was built this way on purpose, but it has provided endless amusement for residents and tourists alike.
Sometimes the most surprising finds are in the most unassuming places, like a parking garage. On a visit to Grand Central Terminal, Untapped New York tour guide Justin Rivers noticed the famed arched herringbone pattern typical of Guastavino tile work. This area once part of The Biltmore Hotel, a grand Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore-designed structure that was built as part of “Terminal City,” a compound of hotels and other buildings connected to Grand Central Terminal that was proposed in the original plans by Charles A. Reed and Allen H. Stem, along with William Wilgus.One of the hotel’s best amenities was the ease with which guests could come and go using the hotel’s connection to Grand Central Terminal. Guests of the Biltmore arriving at Grand Central Terminal would have their luggage collected from the train by porters and then they would travel via tunnel to an elevator in the hotel’s basement and be carried up into the hotel without ever having to step outside.The hotel was stripped down to its steel skeleton in the 1980s and all that is left of the original structure are small remnants like this passageway and its iconic golden clock, which can be found in the lobby of 335 Madison Avenue.
St. Paul’s Chapel, located on the Columbia University campus between Buell Hall and Avery Hall has Guastavino tiles on both the staircase and the dome. The staircase may have 2-3 layers of Guastavino tiles, whereas the dome may consist of as many as 5 or 6 layers of tiles. The tile work was commissioned as part of the master plan for the campus. A recently completed renovation has restored the church to its original glory. And on your visit, fun fact: there’s a secret coffee shop hidden below St. Paul’s Chapel too.
Don’t worry about conspicuously lingering about in this government building; there is no need to go inside to find Guastavino tiles. The south wing of the Municipal building on Chambers Street is fitted with a vaulted tile ceiling, though not in the characteristic herringbone pattern.The Manhattan Municipal Building was the first to incorporate a subway station in its base, and it’s regarded as one of the most beautiful stations in the city, featuring 11 columns. According to MCNY, Guastavino “devised a series of elegant vaults to cover the space, adapting to its various shapes three basic forms: the barrel vault, used along the length of the colonnades; lunettes, curving between the columns; and groin vaults, to accommodate the diversely shaped polygons spanning the internal columns.” Also, check out 12 other secrets of the Manhattan Municipal building, including how you can access the cupola on the top.
The event space, Guastavino’s (appropriately named after Rafael Sr. and Rafael Jr.), is one half of the Guastavino-tile vaulted space that sits beneath the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Many people use the space, which is designated as a New York City landmark, as a place to host weddings, parties and other gatherings. You might have also recognized it as a film location for Marvel shows like The Defenders.The entire space used to be the Queensboro bridgemarket, filled with produce vendors year-round before the Great Depression. After an initial closure and re-opening in the late 1990’s, the space was converted into part Food Emporium, part event space. If you can’t get into Guastavino’s to see the tiling, there is a publicly accessible portion of the Queensboro Bridge, very much forgotten as a Department of Transportation storage area, that has more Guastavino tiling.
FAMILY OF REVEREND WARREN CROMEY WHO LIVED IN CHAPEL OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN THE 1950’s
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
WIKIPEDIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
The hospital received its first patient on July 26, 1917.[4] The hospital was set up to promote the newly created Carrel–Dakin method, which was developed for the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research by Alexis Carrel and Henry Drysdale Dakin.
One of the hospital wards.
On August 24, 1918 Rockefeller War Demonstration Hospital became United States Army Auxiliary Hospital No. 1, under the commanding general of what was then called the Hoboken Port of Embarkation (later renamed to New York Port of Embarkation).[2]
Between August 24, 1918 and its closure, the hospital trained 998 Medical Corps officers and enlisted men of the Army and Navy in the Carrel–Dakin method and treated 237 patients.[5]
The war demonstration hospital was closed on April 5, 1919[2]
Nancy Poultney Ellicott (1872-1944), Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research’s Superintendent of Nurses (1909 – 1938) received a Medal of Honor from the Minister of Hygiene of France in 1926 for her work at the Rockefeller War Demonstration Hospital.[6][7]
The War Demonstration Hospital construction, 1917
Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center
The plan of the temporary hospital at the Rockefeller Institute was made by Mr. Charles Butler, a New York architect who had studied French and British hospital construction in France; he collaborated with the French War Department in designing hospitals. Mr. Butler adopted the unit building system patented by the Humphreys Company in London. Numerous slight structural changes, made necessary by American building conditions, have been devised by Messrs. Marc Eidlitz & Son, contractors.
DEMONSTRATING THE EMERGENCY EXIT
ALONG YORK AVENUE
WOUNDED SOLDIER LEARN NEW PROFESSIONS
Biography
Nancy P. Ellicott was born in Baltimore. She received her nursing diploma in 1903. After graduation she was placed in charge of Ward H in the Johns Hopkins Hospital. From 1905 to 1907 she held the position of Superintendent of Nurses at the Church Home and Infirmary in Baltimore. She was acting Superintendent of the Church Home and Infirmary in 1908. The following year she was appointed first Superintendent of the Rockefeller Institution Hospital in New York City where she remained until her retirement in 1938. During World War I, she assisted French doctor Alexis Carrel in the War Demonstration Hospital at the Rockefeller Hospital. In 1921 she sat on the Alumnae general committee for the Organization for the Endowment of the School of Nursing at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1926 she was awarded a Medal of Honor from the Minister of Hygiene of France. During her nursing training, her creative research into typhoid treatment won her the cofidence and friendship of Drs. Welch and Osler. She is noted as being the first woman in Baltimore to own and operate an automobile. She devised a back rest for patients and a laundry cart on wheels.
DEMOLITION OF ONE OF THE WINGS OF METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL, 1970
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
WIKIPEDIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
In last week’s blog, Amy Stecher adapted her “Lunch and Learn” presentation about the Manhattan Building Plan collection project. This week, co-presenter Alexandra Hilton highlights two architecturally significant buildings documented in the collection – the Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital and the Rivington Street Bath. Future blogs will feature the plans of other unique buildings that have been identified in the processing project.
Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital
Psychopathic Building, Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, architects’ rendering, 1927. Department of Public Charities and Hospitals Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital, as it was called at the time, was built in 1931 by Charles B. Meyers in the Italian Renaissance style. The building is still standing alongside the East River on First Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets, occupying an entire city block. When constructed, it joined the growing Bellevue hospital complex, and was intended to match the existing buildings, which were designed by architects McKim, Mead & White – same color brick, embellished with granite base course, limestone and terra cotta trimmings. By then, McKim, Mead & White was barely active; Meyers had just designed the Tammany Hall building and was a favorite of then-Mayor Jimmy Walker.
Manhattan Block 958. Bromley Atlas, 1955. New York Public Library.
Prior to its construction, Bellevue’s mental-health facilities were part of the main hospital and included an 1879 “pavilion for the insane,” and an alcoholic ward was added in 1892. Dr. Menas Gregory, a well-known psychiatrist who spent his career working in Bellevue’s psychiatric division, is credited with the idea for a psychiatric building after a trip to inspect similar institutions in Europe – a “Temple of Mental Health,” as he called it. Wanting to create a very clean and stately environment for the new hospital was right on brand for Dr. Gregory. In his position, he had already changed the terminology – preferring “psychopathic” to the word “insane,” thinking this would help make the patients seem curable. He had also removed the iron bars from the old pavilion’s windows and had lessened the use of narcotics and physical restraints on the patients. Dr. Gregory was seen as a good guy in the field, at a time when most medical professionals were largely ignorant about mental illness.
Psychopathic Hospital, Department of Hospitals, Charles B. Meyers, elevation, 1929, blueprint. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Before the hospital was built, The New York Times said it would be “one of the finest hospitals in the world for the treatment of mental disorders” and “thoroughly modern” at a cost of $3,000,000. (Unsurprisingly, by the time it was finished, the cost would be $4,300,000 ($66,000,000 today). It was designed as a single building with three separate units: 1) 10-stories to house administrative services, doctors’ offices, labs and a library; 2) 8-stories, for mild cases; 3) 8-stories, for more advanced cases. There were facilities for recreation and occupational therapy; physio-, electro- and hydro-therapy; an out-patient clinic; teaching facilities for medical students, and a special research clinic for the study and treatment of delinquency, crime and behavior problems, in collaboration with the Department of Correction, Criminal Courts and Probation Bureau.
Bellevue Hospital complex with new psychopathic building at right, October 31, 1934. Borough President Manhattan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Rooms were designed to house either one, two or three patients at a time. In a Mental Hygiene Bulletin, it was written that “special consideration has been given in the plans to incorporate within the building the appearance and aspect of home or normal living conditions with simple decorations and color tones believed to have the most soothing effect upon the patient.” One hundred of the six hundred beds were dedicated for the study and treatment of children, under the supervision of the Department of Education.
Completing the building was nothing short of dramatic and filled with accusations of corruption and mismanagement. Its lavish exterior juxtaposed against the great depression couldn’t have been more tone deaf to the city’s residents. When ground was broken on June 18, 1930, it was thought the building would be completed at the end of 1931. Almost a year later, in February 1931, the cornerstone was just being laid. Delays were plentiful. It reportedly took a year to choose the architect and another year to draw the plans, and then, according to the Acting Commissioner of Hospitals, “after the contractor had collected all the funds he could get, he left for Europe.”
Psychopathic Hospital, Department of Hospitals, Charles B. Meyers, first floor plan, 1929, blueprint. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital, Manhattan Block 958, Lot 1, 1940. Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The hospital partially opened in May 1933 with the 600-bed facility only ready for 375 patients. A formal dedication occurred later that year in November, where tribute was paid to Dr. Gregory for his vision. Dr. Gregory resigned from his post in 1934, amid an investigation of his division by the Commissioner of Hospitals, Dr. S. S. Goldwater. This formed a spectacular tit-for-tat-type relationship between Dr. Gregory and Dr. Goldwater, which The New York Times covered extensively. Dr. Gregory died in 1941.
Over the years, the building went from temple of health to a scary place you didn’t want to go, and was the subject of many films, novels and exposes. The hospital saw many celebrity patients. Norman Mailer was sent there after stabbing his wife in a drunken rage. William Burroughs after he chopped off his own finger to impress someone. Eugene O’Neill had several stays in the alcoholic ward. Sylvia Plath came after a nervous breakdown. And infamous criminals like George Metesky the “Mad Bomber,” and John Lennon’s assassin, Mark David Chapman, were briefly committed to the hospital.
In 1984, the city began transitioning the building into a homeless shelter and intake center, but much of it was left empty. Around 2008, a proposal to turn the building into a hotel surfaced. To developers, the building was naturally suited to such a use, given the H-shaped layout with long hallways and small rooms.
Long Island RR steam locomotive in Long Island City, with Sunshine Biscuit factory in background. The LIRR inherited these locomotive from its parent Pennsylvania RR, and they operated till 1955. Andy Sparberg
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
NEW YORK MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES BLOG
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
On February 26, 1875, Mary Halpine, age two months, was buried in trench no. seven at the City Cemetery on Hart Island. According to the cemetery burial ledger, Mary was born in New York City and died from Atelectasis (collapsed lung) at Bellevue Hospital on February 25.
Hart Island Bulk Head, January 13, 1972. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The entry recording the death and burial of Mary Halpine is the first one in a ledger recently donated to the Municipal Archives collection of City Cemetery burial records.
The City of New York purchased Hart Island in 1869 and designated it for the burial of indigent and unclaimed persons. The Department of Public Charities and Corrections was given responsibility for the burials and record-keeping.
In 1988, City archivists transferred all extant burial records dated prior to 1975 that had been stored on the Island, to the Municipal Archives. The earliest ledger in the series recorded burials beginning in May 1881. There are significant gaps in the collection during the 1950s and 1960s due to water damage. In 2018, the Archives accessioned a ledger, with entries dating from May 1872 through February 1875, from the Department of Corrections Historical Society. The latest addition to the Archives collection of City Cemetery ledgers lists burials beginning in February 1875, through 1877.
Transfer of records from Hart Island to the Municipal Archives, 1988.The City Cemetery burial records provide significant data for both family history research and investigation into broader topics such as immigration, public health, and social services. The ledgers list the name of the deceased person (if known), age, birthplace, how long in the country, date, cause and place of death, and date of burial. The ledger also indicates religion, although this information appears to have been inconsistently recorded, likely due to a lack of knowledge about the decedent’s affiliation. There is also a remarks column. At the conclusion of each month the clerk maintaining the ledger carefully tallied the total number of burials, and where the deaths occurred. The greatest number of deaths are recorded as “outdoor poor” which means they occurred somewhere other than an institution—at home, on the street, aboard a ship etc. Bellevue, Almshouse, Charity Hospital, Foundling Asylum, Riverside Hospital, Small Pox Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, account for the majority who died in institutions.
Transfer of records from Hart Island to the Municipal Archives, 1988.
The City Cemetery burial records provide significant data for both family history research and investigation into broader topics such as immigration, public health, and social services. The ledgers list the name of the deceased person (if known), age, birthplace, how long in the country, date, cause and place of death, and date of burial. The ledger also indicates religion, although this information appears to have been inconsistently recorded, likely due to a lack of knowledge about the decedent’s affiliation. There is also a remarks column.
At the conclusion of each month the clerk maintaining the ledger carefully tallied the total number of burials, and where the deaths occurred. The greatest number of deaths are recorded as “outdoor poor” which means they occurred somewhere other than an institution—at home, on the street, aboard a ship etc. Bellevue, Almshouse, Charity Hospital, Foundling Asylum, Riverside Hospital, Small Pox Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, account for the majority who died in institutions.
City Cemetery Burial Ledger, February 1875 – January 1878. NYC Municipal Archives
The birthplaces of the deceased reflect early-to-mid-nineteenth century immigration patterns in New York City. Most decedents are native born, or from northern European countries. For example, between June 5 and June 9th, the decedents’ birthplaces included Germany, Ireland, France, Scotland, Austria and New York.
Cause of death information also reflects the reality of New York City life at that time. Although the clerk did not tabulate causes, reviewing the list shows a world without good health care and modern medicine. Small pox, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and diptheria are just a few of the diseases that took the life of many city residents. Which is probably why “old age” is rarely recorded as a cause of death. Some of those who died of advanced years are Alice Crosby, age 68, born in Ireland, died on July 2, 1875; Ann Kiernan passed away on July 7, 1875, age 69, and Philip Mitchell, on March 25, 1875 age 70.
Also notable is the frequency of “drowning” as a cause of death. But based on the place of death, it appears that most were probably not related to recreational activities. In July 1875 three unrelated persons drowned: an unknown man, age 40, found at Pier 9, in the East River; John Maurer, age 50, in the Harlem River, and another unknown man, no age, found at Pier 42, North River.
Most persons listed in the cemetery ledger died of “natural” causes. However, German-born Fritz Reichardt, age 54, died on July 18, 1876 of a “pistol shot wound of head” on 7th Street between 8th and 9th avenues.
City Cemetery Burial Ledger, February 1875 – January 1878. Recapitulation, May 1876. NYC Municipal Archives
The remarks column is mostly blank except for notations regarding disinterment and reburial. In one instance, in August 1876, an “unknown man” was apparently later “recognized as William Bement,” age 60. He died in the “woods on 128th Street near 10th Avenue. He was disinterred and delivered to Taylor & Co. At 16 Bowery for removal to Elmira, N.Y. Most “unknown” burials did not have such a conclusive ending.
Scanning the names recorded in the ledger, one is immediately struck by the number of children buried in the cemetery. Indeed, the second page of the ledger is almost entirely children: Bridget Daily, age one month, from smallpox; Thomas Dowers, twenty-days, of marasmus (mal-nourished); six still births—boy of Anne Purvis, girl of N. Sullivan, girl of Catherine Beaufort, and an unnamed male and female. Mary Ann (no last name), a two-year old founding, died of Scarlatina on 68th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Some clerks appear to have been more diligent in recording information about deceased children; or perhaps they simply had access to more specific data. Listings during the last week of July 1877, for example, include several premature and stillborn children. On this page, the clerk carefully wrote “female child of George and Carol Briner (stillborn); female child of John and Mary Ray (stillborn).”
New York City continues to bury its indigent and unclaimed deceased persons on Hart Island. Earlier this year, the City transferred jurisdiction over the Island from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Parks and Recreation. During Covid, the Department of Corrections had been overwhelmed by the quantity of burials and this function was transferred to contractors. Subsequently, the Human Resources Administration has assumed responsibility for the burials and record-keeping.
BROOKYN HEIGHTS PROMENADE, 1950 HARA REISER AND ED LITCHER GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
KENNETH R. COBB
NEW YORK MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES BLOG
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
