Bayview Correctional Facility was a medium-security women's prison located at the south corner of West 20th Street and 11th Avenue in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, directly across the avenue from the

Chelsea Piers Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway ( Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally a pa ...

sports complex. It is highly unusual to find a state penitentiary in the middle of a major city.

History

Bayview consisted of one large building and did not have grounds and a fenced perimeter, although an annex was later added. The building was designed by

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, founded as Shreve & Lamb, was an architectural firm, best known for designing the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1931. History The firm was founded in 1920 as Sh ...

and it began its life as housing for sailors before being converted in the 1970s into a jail which held a maximum of 323 women, which represented approximately half of New York State's female prison population. Covering the entire south wall of Bayview is the ''

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

'', a mural painted by New York artist

Knox Martin Knox Martin (February 12, 1923 – May 15, 2022) was an American painter, sculptor, and muralist. Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, he studied at the Art Students League of New York from 1946 until 1950. He was one of the leading members of the ...

in 1970. Venus was commissioned by

Doris Freedman Doris Chanin Freedman (1928–1981) was a pioneer in the field of public art, active in New York City. She was the daughter of architect Irwin Salmon Chanin and his wife Sylvia Schofler. Freedman graduated from Albright College, Pennsylvania ...

of CityWalls (later the

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, new commissions, ...

). Today, Venus is almost entirely obscured by the neighboring building 100 Eleventh Avenue, completed in 2010. Featured on the New York State Correction Officer Informational Page's "History of Bayview" is the following statement: Before

Superstorm Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

hit in October 2012, Bayview's 153 prisoners were evacuated and sent to other facilities. The building sustained worth of damage as a result of storm damage and remained closed due to NYS Budgetary reasons. Following the announcement that the building would be sold, a number of plans for its future developed. Among those was a center for women's advocacy under the auspices of the NoVo Foundation, which was abandoned in 2019. As of 2020, the building's future status is unknown.

References

{{Authority control 2012 disestablishments in New York (state) Chelsea, Manhattan Defunct prisons in New York City Government buildings in Manhattan Women's prisons in New York (state) History of women in New York City