City Hospital (Roosevelt Island, New York)

City Hospital
Location: Roosevelt Island, New York, New York
Area: less than one acre
Built: 1858
Architect: Renwick,James,Jr.
Governing body: Local
NRHP Reference#: 72000868[1]
Added to NRHP: March 16, 1972

City Hospital (also known as Island Hospital or Charity Hospital) was a historic hospital on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

History

Originally named Penitentiary Hospital and located on what was then known as Blackwell's Island, the first hospital was built in 1832 to serve the prisoners housed at Blackwell's Penitentiary.[2] After the hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1858, architect James Renwick, Jr. designed City Hospital, which prisoners completed construction on in 1861, and served both inmates and New York City's poorer population.[2][3] In 1870, the hospital was renamed Charity Hospital and a medical superintendent was hired after the quality of care was criticized.[2] In order to reflect the changing uses for the island, the city changed its name to Welfare Island.[4]

Abandonment

The prison closed in 1935, and the hospital was closed in 1957, when operations for Charity Hospital and Smallpox Hospital were moved to Queens.[3][4] The building, designed in the Second Empire style, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, but not given protected landmark status.[3] The next year, Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[5] The hospital was demolished in 1994, with stones salvaged from the structure used to the line paths in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, which is being constructed on southern tip of the island.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ a b c "Records of City Hospital (Welfare Island, N.Y.) 1877-1961". nyam.org. New York Academy of Medicine. http://www.nyam.org/library/docs/ARC-0002.xml. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  3. ^ a b c d Christopher Gray (1994-10-16). "Streetscapes/Charity Hospital on Roosevelt Island; Piles of Rubble Where Grim Gray Walls Once Stood". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/16/realestate/streetscapes-charity-hospital-roosevelt-island-piles-rubble-where-grim-gray.html. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
  4. ^ a b "Smallpox Hospital (Renwick Ruin)". rihs.us. Roosevelt Island Historical Society. http://www.rihs.us/landmarks/renwick.html. Retrieved 2009-12-0420. 
  5. ^ a b Gregory Beyer (2009-01-23). "Roosevelt Island - Signs of Progress for a Memorial Deferred on Roosevelt Island". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/nyregion/thecity/25fdr.html. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
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