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