Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ruin now more of a ruin

The Smallpox Hospital, a landmarked building on Roosevelt Island, is slowly crumbling — taking with it an important chapter of the island's history. A portion of the structure's façade collapsed Dec. 26 after years of neglect and exposure to the elements.

Preservationists say 3M needed to save Roosevelt Island Smallpox hospital

The hospital was designed by famed architect James Renwick, who was also responsible for St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church.

Completed in 1856, the building initially served as the city's only hospital for smallpox victims. It was then turned into a nursing school and residence in the 1870s. It was eventually abandoned in the 1950s.


This is the only landmarked ruin in NYC. When LPC designates something, the condition it's in is grandfathered in (at least that is one of the current excuses given to NOT designate buildings). Therefore, it will stay a ruin, as it has for 33 years. And I quote from the 1975 designation report: "it is a romantic and picturesque ruin, evoking memories of the past."

'What a lovely pile of rubble,' they said, over wine and cheese.

Photo from Daily News

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah,
they're forever whining and giving us the cheese!

That's the only thing that these "alphabet "
organizations (like LPC)
seem to be good at....planning preservation parties!

The hostesses with the mostest.

Finger waving and filling goblets with Medoc .

"That's a wonderfully ripe Camembert
right next to the wheel of Brie"!

"Where's Chairman Tierney"?

"In the mens' lounge you say.....thank you".

"I'll be sure to lobby him
when he comes out of hiding"!

"H-m-m-m ....it's been over 40 minutes.
I think he must have fallen in".

Anonymous said...

wine & cheese organizations like the LPC probably refer to themselves with acronyms in hopes of making us forget what they're supposed to do.

Anonymous said...

Here's how it looked in 1933:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12456197@N03/2220662871/

Anonymous said...

Acronyms or cronie-yms Ken?

Whenever a bunch of cronies get together
the first thing they do is come up with an
active sounding name for themselves
that can quickly be transformed
into a three letter abbreviation
which makes them appear more formidable .

For instance....
like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Are they really that "intellligent"?

Anonymous said...

to get a job with the CIA you need a 3.0. college gpi.

https://www.cia.gov/careers/index.html

Anonymous said...

And an advanced degree in paranoia "Ken".

You forgot that.