City Hospital (Roosevelt Island)

City Hospital
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
(1989)
Location	Roosevelt Island, Manhattan, New York City
Area	less than one acre
Built	1832
Architect	James Renwick, Jr.
NRHP Reference #	72000868
Added to NRHP	March 16, 1972

City Hospital (also known as Island Hospital or Charity Hospital) was a historic hospital on Roosevelt Island, Manhattan 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. After the hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1858, architect James Renwick, Jr. designed a new building to be called City Hospital, on which prisoners completed construction in 1861. It served both inmates and New York City's poorer population. In 1870, the hospital was renamed Charity Hospital and a medical superintendent was hired after the quality of care was criticized. The city changed the name of the island to Welfare Island to reflect the mission of the institutions located there.

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. 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. The next year, Welfare Island was renamed Roosevelt Island in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 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.

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