ISLAND ARCHIVES: A bi-weekly look at Governors Island’s pictursque past
Apr 9, 2010 8:17 pm
[caption id=“attachment_3015” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Post Hospital 1896 (Courtesy of NPS)”]
[/caption] Extensive veranda, limitless harbor views, charming Victorian detail? It sounds like an envy-inspiring posting from the real estate section. But this charming building was once the Island’s medical facility. It was constructed in the 1870s after the Island became a headquarters for the Army. Previously, the Block House in Nolan Park constructed in 1839 served as the medical facility. This brick Greek Revival building was a central part of the early garrison complex. But by the 1870s Nolan Park was the center of housing for officers and their families and the Block House made a much more convenient administrative headquarters building than hospital facility. The hospital pictured above served the Island until the 1930s when the sweeping McKim, Meade & White building pictured below was erected. This new hospital served nearly 3,000 patients a year. [caption id=“attachment_3016” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=”“New” post hospital”]
[/caption] In place of the graceful 1870s building two new residential buildings, 111 & 112, were constructed in 1934. The two L‑shaped three story buildings were part of an aggressive building campaign on the Island in the 1930s and the views once experienced by recouping patients became part of the daily lives of the officers and their families who lived there until the departure of the Coast Guard. Finally, in the 1990s, the Coast Guard undertook the renovation of an office building into a new clinic. The Coast Guard left the Island soon after. That latest Island clinic will be reborn this fall as the New York Harbor School. But don’t worry about the closure of the hospital buildings; EMS staff is on the Island during all public access days and events! Next time from Island Archives: When brick wasn’t red… a Governors Island change of color.