A place built for a disease now eradicated.

Roosevelt Island, New York City

The Smallpox Hospital was built in response to a public health crisis. Its history follows the changing ways New York treated, contained, and eventually eradicated disease. Today, the building is a ruin, fenced off and closed to the public.

Friends of the Ruin is working to stabilize the building, restore its landscape, and make the site accessible to the public.

Courtesy Touhey Photography, metouhey.com

THE PLACE

The Smallpox Hospital stands at the southern end of Roosevelt Island, in Southpoint Park, directly north of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park. From the ruin, the United Nations is directly across the East River.

THE BUILDING'S HISTORY

Designed by James Renwick Jr., the Smallpox Hospital opened in 1856 as a hospital dedicated to the treatment and isolation of people with smallpox. In 1886, after the hospital closed, the building became a home and training school for nurses. Eventually, the nursing school closed and the building was abandoned.

Smallpox was eradicated in 1980.

Imagine walking into it.

Digital Rendering Courtesy Synoesis Visualization Studio, synoesis.com

The Smallpox Hospital is fenced off and cannot be entered today. The proposed work would repair the structure and its grounds, opening the site to the public for the first time since the 1950s.

What could happen next?

The building would remain a ruin. No new building would occupy it. The public would be able to walk through the existing structure and experience the landscape within and around it.

Donate

Friends of the Ruin is working to raise the funds necessary to stabilize the Smallpox Hospital, restore its landscape, and reopen the site to the public.

Your support will help stabilize the building, restore the landscape, and reopen the site to the public. Please contribute to our efforts here.