THERE it sits at Parsons Boulevard and 82nd Drive in Hillcrest, the massive “T building” of Queens Hospital Center (nee Queens General Hospital) that was originally known as Triboro Hospital, a tuberculosis treatment facility, built c. 1939-1940. It’s so large, I can’t get all of it in one shot; I was backed up on the sidewalk as far as I could go without having to go into someone’s bedroom. The building was designed by architect John Russell Pope, and later by the Eggers & Higgins firm as Pope perished halfway through his efforts.
With its airy wings and sun-drenched balconies it was intended for the then favored treatment of tuberculosis (TB or “consumption”), plenty of fresh air and light. It was once thought that the germs causing tuberculosis collected in sharp corners, so many tuberculosis centers were designed with circular rooms! It is similar in architecture to city hospital pavilions constructed on Welfare Island (Goldwater Hospital) and North Brother Island (Riverside Hospital). It was also thought that sunlight kills tuberculosis germs, and so buildings housing TB patients were also designed to catch a lot of sunlight, thus the building was built athwart the street grid to catch morning to midafternoon sun.
The T Building currently used by Queens Hospital Center for administrative offices, storage, and clinic and psychiatric services, though the building is slowly deteriorating from its relative little use. I’m wondering if homeless housing is in its future.
The last occasion I heard of anyone contracting tuberculosis was back in the 1990s, when Mets pitcher Jason Isringhausen came down with it… a bit too late to be treated for it here.
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2/7/22
7 comments
I remember this hospital well. As a kid in Parkway Village (1956-1963) it was clearly visible from my neighborhood. Always reminded me of a cruise ship. Patients in robes could be seen walking the outdoor balconies.
One tuberculosis hospital in particular was obsolete when it was built, Van Etten Hospital in The Bronx, finished in the mid 1950’s, by which time TB was being treated with antibiotics. Thus, it was never put to full use as a long-term care facility specifically for TB. It’s still there and is being put to other uses just as it has been for almost 70 years.
Seaview Hospital Staten Island also. The medication breakthrough was made there.
Very Art Deco, for sure, with those curved windows and buff-colored brick. Hope it is saved.
It is being converted to affordable housing. The
building has been under construction, and is near completion. I believe there is a lottery to get an
apartment there.
Re: TB hospitals with curved balconies – also the old Gouverneur Hospital (621 Water Street) on the Lower East Side which is easily visible as you drive by on the FDR.
In 1959 my father contracted TB and was sent to Triboro. I looked at it as a prison but it saved his life. He was there for over one year and was not allowed to leave until completely cured. He may have been cured of TB but he never was the same again. Too long of a sad story but for what it was and was supposed to do—it did.