The Block House, also known as Building 9 and the Governors Island Post Hospital, is a brick building in the Nolan Park area of

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

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 ...

. Its name is due to its early use as a prison.Landmark sign on side of building

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

was briefly stationed there early in his military career. Building 9 was constructed in 1839 in the

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 ...

style and was initially used as the Post Hospital. The roof of the building was originally flat, but was replaced with 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, ...

in 1864 because the flat roof would leak. Ten years later, two wings for patient wards were built because the original structure was so poorly ventilated. In 1878–1879, Building 9 was converted to offices for the Military Division of the Atlantic and the Department of the East. The building was used for various Army commands until the 20th century, and by 1947, the structure was converted to four sets of officers' quarters. Building 9 is two-stories with a red-brick facade, raised above a high schist basement. Brick paths lead from Nolan Park to the front entrance. The entrance is surrounded with granite around

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

ed wood, which in turn enclosed a paneled wood door. There is a wrought-iron balcony immediately above the front entrance; the back formerly had a similar entrance design, which is now a window. The windows are six-over-six and contain granite

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 and

window sill A windowsill (also written window sill or window-sill, and less frequently in British English, cill) is the horizontal structure or surface at the bottom of a window. Window sills serve to structurally support and hold the window in place. The ...

References

External links

Governors Island

Governors Island NPS Site
The Block House at the end of day at the end of summer

Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Houses completed in 1843 Greek Revival architecture in New York City Greek Revival houses in New York (state) Governors Island New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan 1843 establishments in New York (state) {{Manhattan-struct-stub

See also

References

External links