New York Cancer Hospital

src: upload.wikimedia.org

The New York City Cancer Hospital in New York City's Upper West Side is a cancer care and research institute founded in 1884. Located at 455 Central Park West between the West 105th and the 106th Streets, and built between 1884 and 1886 with the additions made between 1889 and 1890, was designed by Charles Coolidge Haight in Gothic style and French Chateau End - inspired by the Loire Valley castle. It was the first hospital in the United States dedicated exclusively to cancer treatment, and the second in the world after London Cancer Hospital.

Around 1955, the hospital became a Towers Nursing Home, and the building began to decline. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1976, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and converted into a luxury condo apartment in 2001-05 designed by Perkins Eastman Architects.

Video New York Cancer Hospital

Get started

In the summer of 1884, former President Ulysses S. Grant developed a throat cancer. He lives on a brown stone on 3 East 66th Street, and the subsequent decline attracts the attention of the nation. Considered incurable, as well as contagious and embarrassing, Grant's death the following year brought awareness of the disease. Although the cancer was inoperable, others were more fortunate, because the development of anesthesia in the mid-19th century finally gave doctors surgical treatment for cancer.

In the year of Grant's diagnosis, John Jacob Astor III, Elizabeth H. Cullum, John E. Parsons, Thomas A. Emmett, Joseph W. Drexel and other prominent New Yorkers laid the foundation for New York Cancer Hospital, the first country to devote itself exclusive treatment for cancer patients. Designed by Charles C. Haight and completed in 1887, the first section of the hospital, aimed specifically at women, is at the southwest corner of 106 and Central Park West. In dedication, Grant's doctor, Fordyce Barker, said that the cancer was not due to misery, poverty, or poor sanitary environments, or ignorance or bad habits, but diseases that afflict the cultured, the rich and the people of the fertile areas.

In 1890 the hospital expanded to the south, and in both parts Haight designed a circular wound, about 40 meters in diameter, partly to facilitate better observation by nurses at the center and partly because the design offered more space between the headboard of the bed. Ventilation is a major concern, so the channel runs into the ward centers to remove what is said to be an intense odor caused by the disease. Haight worked on the exterior ward into the exterior architecture, which was executed in dark red brick and soft Belleville brown chocolates, with large conical towers placed irregularly on three fronts.

The large and spacious tower gives the hospital a character of chÃƒÆ' Ã‚ Â¢ teau, like ChÃƒÆ' Ã‚ Â¢ teau de Chambord in Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France, and makes it one of the most important pieces of institutional architecture in New York even today. It is widely said it would be easier to take for art museums than for hospitals.

Maps New York Cancer Hospital

Medical innovation

During the inauguration of the hospital, treatment for cancer was largely palliative. The hospital offers what is considered the best care available for the moment. Cancer treatment means, at least, reducing the pain and making the patient as comfortable as possible. Many patients come to the New York Cancer Hospital, basically, to die, defused by morphine. Other forms of assistance include a train ride in Central Park and Sunday services at the St. Joseph's Hospital chapel. Elizabeth from Hungary, the patron saint of misery.

From the beginning, the NYCH seemed full of misfortune. Just a few months after laying the foundation for a new hospital, one of its main donors, Elizabeth Hamilton Cullum, succumbed to cervical cancer. Incidentally, the wife of John Jacob Astor, Charlotte Augusta Astor also died of uterine cancer just a week before the opening of the hospital in December 1887, lost the opportunity to be cured. Partly because of its generous financial contributions to the facility, the first wing of New York Cancer Hospital correctly devoted the "Astor Pavilion".

Inspired much by modern medical theory as in the 16th century French chÃƒÆ' Ã‚ Â¢ teaux, the architect of the Charles Haight round tower was designed to prevent germs and dirt from accumulating in sharp corners, which at the time was considered a refuge for disease. An air axle ran vertically through the center of each tower to prevent air from stagnation in the ward. This design is considered the most up-to-date in 19th-century ventilation technology: The New York Times commented in 1888 that "overall, the features marked a new departure in hospital construction and made this magnificent structure a model of its kind. "

The 20th century brought new techniques in the treatment of cancer, including radiation therapy. In 1921, Marie Curie visited the New York Cancer Hospital, later renamed the General Memorial Hospital for Allied Cancer and Allied Medicine, to see bricks and vaults in which the hospital stored four grams of radium - at that time the largest accumulation in world. Dr. Edward H. Rogers, who escorted him, convinced The Times that there was no case on anyone's record who was injured in health by radium. She denied that Curie had been harmed by radioactive material, saying she was recently ill just because of anemia. In this period radium dangers began to emerge, sparking defensive claims by supporters. He died in 1934, not surprisingly because of radium poisoning. In retrospect, early radiation treatment is often worse than a disease that is meant to be cured. Radiation causes severe burns and, in some cases, additional cancers. New York Cancer Hospital may be greeted with success because of its good intentions, but there is no end to the suffering of the people in it. Plagued by an ever-increasing death rate, NYCH has its own crematorium located in the facility's basement, all the more horrific by sight, through its gothic windows, from the high chimney to the west of the main building.

Mostly because the cancer remains very deadly, the hospital is soon experiencing financial problems. It came to be known as "Bastille," a place to be feared and avoided by patients and customers. At the turn of the century, the beleaguered hospital administrator changed its name to General Memorial Hospital, and again in the early 1920s to the Memorial General Hospital for the Treatment of Allied Cancer and Illness. For decades, hospitals bear a heavy dedication to basic principles of finding a cure for cancer.

In 1955, the General Memorial Hospital for Allied Cancer and Allied Medicine moved from an outdated Central Park West facility to its new location on the East Side. There grew into what is now the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. It was at this time that the former New York Cancer Hospital building began to decline. Under the new ownership of nursing home nobleman Bernard Bergman, it turned into a facility called Towers Nursing Home. The nursing home then became famous for its neglect and lack of standards. Elderly patients testify to "terrible conditions," including inadequate heat, pest infestations, physical violence and neglect. The patients are not the only ones who are neglected either. The old facilities are unkempt, dirty, and the "pungent smell" fills the air. The building that once was clean, became a sad slum. State and federal investigations also took place following an investigation into allegations of Medicaid and Tax fraud that eventually resulted in the house closing in 1974. The former Cancer Hospital of New York was left in a state of apprehension after the closure of the nursing home. there was a demolition talk before the New York City Landmark Conservation Commission assigned the hospital to build a historic building in 1976.

The Many Lives, and Miraculous Recovery, of NYC's First Cancer ...

src: imgs.6sqft.com

Redevelopment

Medical hospitals, neglected, dormant and damaged for decades. In the neighborhood the building became popularly known as the "castle" because of the gothic round tower. Over the years, many promising developers have expressed interest in rotting properties. Among some of them are hotel developers and real estate Ian Schrager, best known as the owner of part of Studio 54, whose efforts to renovate a landmark into a luxury apartment failed. The old hospital was dormant for almost three decades until March 2000, when a Chicago-based MCL developer was involved. With great financing, Daniel E. McLean, president and chief executive of MCL Company bought the property for $ 21 million and started construction. But like many of his predecessors, he was forced to stop work due to a financial freeze after the September 11 attacks. McLean envisioned a plan calling for a massive renovation of the rest of the old hospital into a modern luxury condo, which includes a new modern 26-story tower adjacent to the landmark building. Among the new tenants is Columbia University, which buys multiple floors to be used as a residence for senior teachers and honorary guests. The purchase by Columbia, as well as a new construction loan, allowed the McLean project to get back on track after work was suspended due to a lack of money after 9/11.

In early 2005, the construction of an old landmark hospital, now called 455 Central Park West, has been completed as a condominium, with units sold for $ 7 million. The new apartments in the old hospital building have large circular spaces, and high ceilings, the people in the tower have beautiful views over Central Park. The tenants enjoy amenities such as a spa, indoor pool and 24-hour concierge service. The building, even then, is considered haunted.