Brooklyn Naval Hospital was a hospital in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, within the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
. It was one of the oldest naval hospitals in the United States, having operated from 1838 to 1948. Two of the structures in the former hospital's site are designated
New York City Landmarks
These are lists of New York City landmarks designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission:
* New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan:
** List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
** List o ...
. The entire hospital complex is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
along with the rest of the Navy Yard.
History
Establishment and operation
The first hospital at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was established within the main shipyard. However, its facilities were described as inadequate; an 1811 letter described the hospital as being in a pond that flooded during high tide, and without any sterile lining to prevent disease transmission. In 1824, the
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
purchased a dedicated tract for a new Brooklyn Naval Hospital.
This plot was not connected to the rest of the Navy Yard at the time. The hospital was established the following year.
At the time the hospital was constructed, the area was still largely rural, and its buildings secluded from the developed sections of Brooklyn.
The hospital's main building was not actually completed until 1838,
with additional wings added two years later.
A pharmaceutical laboratory was added to the main property in 1853;
the building no longer exists.
E. R. Squibb, the inventor of the
anesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
, was the first person to run the laboratory. He worked on improving a distillation method for ether during his tenure at the hospital until he left in 1857.
Shortly afterward, when the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
broke out, Squibb provided drugs to the Naval Hospital from his laboratory on nearby Furman Street.
The Brooklyn Naval Hospital was active from the American Civil War through
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. At first, the hospital treated sailors and dock workers, and had a capacity of 125 beds
which could hold 150 patients. The Brooklyn Naval Hospital became the main hospital in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
's hospital system in the 1850s.
The two-story Surgeon's House was completed in 1863. It was estimated that during the course of the Civil War, the hospital treated almost a quarter of all
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
casualties,
and annexes were built so the hospital could treat up to 450 patients at once. After the war, the hospital also started treating civilians.
By the end of the 19th century, the mud flats separating the hospital and the rest of the Brooklyn Navy Yard were filled in and developed. Work on a new wing to the original building began in 1895, and was completed in 1900.
By 1904, the Brooklyn Naval Hospital was ranked one of the best civilian hospitals in the U.S.
Two quarters numbered 2 and 3 were built for medical staff in 1905. A medical supply depot was completed circa 1910, and a lumber shed was completed in 1910. The medical supply depot later became an officer's quarters, while the lumber shed was later converted into a
morgue
A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...
. By 1913, the quarters for the officer in command of the medical supply depot was being converted into a facility for patients with
contagious disease
A contagious disease is an infectious disease that is readily spread (that is, communicated) by transmission of a pathogen through contact (direct or indirect) with an infected person.
A disease is often known to be contagious before medical s ...
s. In 1915, three small brick quarters buildings numbered 5 through 7 were built at the hospital's northwestern edge, away from the existing buildings. This was done in an effort to
quarantine
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
anyone with contagious diseases.
Circa 1917, the United States' entry into
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
necessitated further expansion of the hospital. The original hospital building's capacity was doubled to 600 with the construction of a new wing, and the supply depot was moved to Sands Street so the former supply depot building could be converted into additional facilities for patients.
A nurses' quarters, with capacity for 130 nurses, was built in 1919 at the northern boundary of the hospital grounds. An additional wing for the original building opened in 1920. These improvements, along with four additional buildings that no longer exist, allowed the hospital to accommodate 3,000 patients at a time during World War I. After World War I ended, the number of patients declined until 1938 (just before World War II), when a national emergency was declared.
In preparation for World War II, the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
refurbished the Naval Hospital's 37 buildings, although no new structures were built. The hospital accommodated 65,197 patients over the course of the war.
The Navy's first Cardiac Consultation Service was founded at the hospital in 1941. The Brooklyn branch of the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
Service, also helped the hospital's patients with rehabilitation activities.
Closure
In April 1948, after the war ended, the Navy announced that it would be closing the Brooklyn Naval Hospital.
Despite objections from U.S. Representative
James J. Heffernan,
the hospital was officially decommissioned on June 30, 1948. Most of the hospital's patients were relocated to the St. Albans Naval Hospital, a newly constructed facility in
St. Albans, Queens.
Subsequently, the hospital was converted into the United States Naval Receiving Annex, Brooklyn.
Some of the buildings were to be repurposed into additional housing.
After the greater Navy Yard was decommissioned in the 1960s, the Navy retained the former hospital buildings as administrative structures until 1989.
The structures are largely in the same state as they had been since abandonment.
However, several buildings had been demolished during the late 20th century. Skeletons in the former hospital's cemetery were rediscovered in 1997 during a survey. Two years later, a report on the cemetery was published.
In 2012,
Steiner Studios
Steiner Studios is a film studio at Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the largest film and television production studio complex in the United States outside Hollywood. Steiner Studios, spread across , contains 30 soundstages a ...
proposed to build a media campus at the former hospital site.
The Naval Hospital campus would be an annex to the existing Steiner Studios lot, located just west of Brooklyn Naval Hospital. Steiner Studios planned to restore the hospital buildings starting in 2017, and restoration was expected to take nearly a decade.
The extant buildings included the main building, surgeon's house, quarters 4 through 7, bachelors' and nurses' quarters, carriage houses and stables, the medical supply depot, and the morgue/lumber shed. Steiner proposed to convert these structures into production, post-production, and production support space. The hospital, along with the rest of the Navy Yard, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
(NRHP) in 2014. The Steiner Studios plan calls for the restoration of 15 NRHP-listed buildings at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital campus, but would also demolish some of the NRHP-contributing artifacts to make way for the new facility. Structures with a total floor area of would be demolished and replaced with landscaped lawn space.
Notable structures
Main building
![NYT Navy Yard redux (10004152406)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/NYT_Navy_Yard_redux_%2810004152406%29.jpg)
The Brooklyn Naval Hospital's main building is Building R95, a , 2-story
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
structure with a granite
facade. The building was designed by
Martin E. Thompson
Martin Euclid Thompson (1786–1877) was an American architect and artist prolific in nineteenth-century New York City, and a co-founder of the National Academy of Design. Landmarks Preservation Commission (New York City)br>LP-0312 October 12 ...
.
The front portion of the building was built starting in 1830 and was completed in 1838.
Two wings were completed in 1840,
and were attached to the front section in a rough "E" shape. The long side of the "E" contains a symmetrical
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
recessed into the walls and surrounded by eight 2-story-tall stone
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
. The front portico, facing west onto Hospital Road, contains ten
bays while the sides each contain nine bays, and there are twelve-over-twelve-
pane double-
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s with wooden frames on all elevations of the building. Additional entrances are located on the sides of the building, and a second portico.
During the Civil War, a temporary wooden annex with capacity for another 300 patients was added, though this annex might have once treated 500 patients simultaneously. The wooden annex was torn down at the end of the war. Two additional wings were added in 1900 and 1920 but were also demolished; the original building and the two 1840 wings remain. The structure was made a
New York City designated landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
in 1965.
The building was cited as a "rare surviving example of early institutional design" in the city's landmark report.
Surgeon's House
A two-story Surgeon's House (Building R1), designed in the
French Second Empire style
Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...
, was built in 1863 by builder True W. Rollins and civil engineer Charles Hastings. The entrance to the house is symmetrical and contains a small pair of steps to a large doorway, with
segmental arch
A segmental arch is a type of arch with a circular arc of less than 180 degrees. It is sometimes also called a scheme arch.
The segmental arch is one of the strongest arches because it is able to resist thrust. To prevent failure, a segmental arc ...
es and
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
s on either side of the entryway. The facade of the house contains a variety of window designs, including a large
bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room.
Types
Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...
on the north side of the first floor, and segmental arch windows on the second floor and at the front side of the first floor. There are sixteen rooms in the house itself, as well as a servant's quarters. The house also contains a
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
with a full-height attic, as well as
dormer window
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...
s from the attic that stick out from the slope of the roof. A curved driveway leads from the main entrance. The Surgeon's House is also a New York City designated landmark,
having been marked as such in 1976.
Cemetery
The hospital's official cemetery, the U.S. Naval Hospital Cemetery, was established in 1831. The hospital's cemetery stopped burying soldiers in 1910, when it had reached its burial capacity. In 1926, Congress provided funding for the decommissioning of the U.S. Naval Hospital Cemetery. Subsequently, 987 soldiers' graves were exhumed and re-interred at
Cypress Hills Cemetery
Cypress Hills Cemetery is non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, the first of its type in the city. The cemetery is run as a non-profit organization and is loca ...
.
A park on the hospital cemetery's site, the Naval Cemetery Landscape, was opened in May 2016.
Other structures
A two-story brick carriage house, Building R103, was built around 1900. It contained two garage slots on the first floor, and a second story with rectangular windows and stone windowsills with flush
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
s. The carriage building contained single-paneled wooden doors at the side and rear of the building, as well as a second-story entrance on the east side that was accessed by a no-longer-extant stair. A
gable-roofed brick annex, Building R109, is attached to the carriage house. It is located on a slope, with two stories on the lower eastern side and one story on the higher western side of the building. There are segmental arched windows on the longer elevations of the building, as well as a garage with sliding wooden doors on the southern side.
Quarters 4, also known as Building R4, was built in 1864 and served several purposes. It was a surgeon's residence until 1903, a directors' residence from 1903 to 1919, a nurses' quarters in 1919, and a sick officers' quarters after 1920. Quarters 4 was built in the
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
style, with two wings. The asymmetrical three-story gable-roofed main building contains a single-pane wooden door at its front entrance, and six-over-six and two-over-four-sash windows with round arches at the top of each window. The third story was not included in the building's original construction, as it was built in 1917. A two-story wing is attached to the north facade and contains an entrance with segmental arches, as well as rectangular windows. A balcony runs along all three stories on the west side the building and was constructed around 1947; it contains one-over-one windows with metal frames.
The medical supply depot (Building RD) was based on a design by architect
Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Early life and education
Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New ...
. The design was similar to that of the naval hospital at the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
(which Flagg also designed), with a slightly utilitarian
buff-colored brick facade, a
hip roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
, and
classical-style elements.
The lumber shed (Building R426) also had a hip roof, but was one story high and located near the original hospital building's eastern wall. The lumber shed was later converted into a
morgue
A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...
.
Other structures on the Brooklyn Naval Hospital campus include:
* Buildings R5-R7: Infectious Disease Quarters, built in 1915
* Buildings R8 and R9: Bachelor Officers' Quarters, built in 1926
* Building 103a: Garage, built circa 1947
* Building R104: Guard House and Gate Keeper Lodge, built circa 1850
* Building 311: Motion Picture Exchange, built 1942
* Site R448: Greenhouse, built 1928
* Building RG: Nurses' Quarters, built 1919 with an expansion circa 1980
See also
*
List of hospitals in Brooklyn
This is a list of hospitals in Brooklyn, sorted by hospital name, with addresses and a brief description of their formation and development. Hospital names were obtained from these sources.
A list of hospitals in New York State is also availab ...
References
Sources
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External links
*
{{Authority control
Medical installations of the United States Navy
Military hospitals in the United States
Hospital buildings completed in 1838
Hospital buildings completed in 1841
Military facilities in Brooklyn
Defunct hospitals in Brooklyn
1838 establishments in New York (state)
1970s disestablishments
Military installations closed in the 1970s
National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...