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Photo, Print, Drawing Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Staff House, New York Harbor, New York County, NY

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[ Photos from Survey HABS NY-6086-R  ]

More Resources

View 9 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS NY-6086-R  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS NY-6086-R  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS NY-6086-R  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Staff House, New York Harbor, New York County, NY

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Taylor, James Knox
  • Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury
  • North-Eastern Construction Company
  • U.S. Public Health Service
  • Arzola, Robert R, project manager
  • Lockett, Dana, project manager
  • Davidson, Paul, field team supervisor
  • De Sousa, Daniel, field team
  • Matsov, Alexander, field team
  • Kidd, Anne E, field team
  • Sienkewicz, Julia, historian
  • Davidson, Lisa Pfueller, historian
  • Rosenthal, James W, photographer
  • Statue of Liberty National Monument, sponsor

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  fireplaces
  • -  chimneys
  • -  Georgian Revival architectural elements
  • -  medical personnel
  • -  tile roofs
  • -  enclosed porches
  • -  reinforced concrete construction
  • -  medicine
  • -  immigrants
  • -  New York -- New York County

Latitude / Longitude

  • 40.696897,-74.041297

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Staff House was a support structure for the Contagious Disease Hospital complex on Island 3 of the Ellis Island U. S. Immigration Station. Construction of the Contagious Disease Hospital in 1907-08 greatly expanded the hospital facilities run by the U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service (after 1912, U. S. Public Health Service, or USPHS) in conjunction with the Bureau of Immigration at Ellis Island. Concerns about the spread of contagious diseases such as measles, scarlet fever, and trachoma (an eye disease that could lead to blindness) prompted Ellis Island officials to lobby for an expanded hospital capability on the island itself, rather than transporting these cases to medical facilities throughout New York City. This effort represents both compassion in providing highly professional medical care for ill immigrants and fears regarding urban public health and the potential diseases carried by arriving aliens. In later decades the function of the USPHS hospitals at Ellis Island shifted to include caring for a complex mix of immigrants, detainees, merchant seaman, service members and other local citizens eligible for government medical care. The Staff House and the Contagious Disease Hospital were designed by James Knox Taylor, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury. The Office of the Supervising Architect was responsible for the design of federal facilities, in this case working for the Department of Commerce and Labor in consultation with the USPHS surgeons assigned to Ellis Island. The Contagious Disease Hospital was a mature example of a pavilion plan hospital, a form favored since its establishment in Europe during the nineteenth century and in the United States largely since after the Civil War. The Staff House exterior was executed in the same Georgian Revival mode as the rest of the Island 3 hospital, with red tile roof, pebble and dash stucco wall treatment, and red brick quoins and details. This decorative treatment complemented the Georgian Revival monumentality of the Island 2 general hospital while the detailing and lower scale of the new hospital made it visually distinct. Originally the Staff House was free-standing, enhancing its appearance as a central-hall domestic structure within the sprawling pavilion hospital complex of attached buildings. Shortly after completion, the covered passageway for the hospital was extended to the Staff House at its west portico entrance. The Staff House was designed with communal spaces on the first floor and bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor for USPHS assistant surgeons with families. Georgian Revival decorative details inside include fireplaces with ornamental mantels, chair rails, and picture molding. The high level of interior ornamentation and finish reflected the status of the USPHS professionals housed here. The USPHS vacated the hospital facilities on March 1, 1951 and the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit at Ellis Island expanded to use portions of the Island 3 hospital for file storage. The Ellis Island U. S. Immigration Station ceased operation on November 12, 1954 and the complex was largely unoccupied until it was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, under the administration of the U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1675
  • -  Survey number: HABS NY-6086-R
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1907-1908 Initial Construction
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000058

Medium

  • Photo(s): 22
  • Measured Drawing(s): 9
  • Data Page(s): 36
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS NY-6086-R

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

  • Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Control Number

  • ny2375

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, James Knox Taylor, Office Of The Supervising Architect Of The Treasury, North-Eastern Construction Company, U.S. Public Health Service, Robert R Arzola, Dana Lockett, et al., Rosenthal, James W, photographer. Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Staff House, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. New York County New York, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2375/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Taylor, J. K., Office Of The Supervising Architect Of The Treasury, North-Eastern Construction Company, U.S. Public Health Service, Arzola, R. R. [...] Statue Of Liberty National Monument, S., Rosenthal, J. W., photographer. (1933) Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Staff House, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. New York County New York, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2375/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Rosenthal, James W. Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Staff House, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ny2375/>.