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Photo, Print, Drawing Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY Statue of Liberty National Monument U.S. Immigration Station

View 11 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS NY-6086-V  ]

More Resources

View 8 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS NY-6086-V  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS NY-6086-V  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS NY-6086-V  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY

Other Title

  • Statue of Liberty National Monument U.S. Immigration Station

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Aldrich, Chester, architect
  • U.S. Public Buildings Service
  • Albert Development Corporation, contractor
  • Ellis Island Committee
  • Arzola, Robert R, project manager
  • Davidson, Lisa Pfueller, historian

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  recreation centers
  • -  New Deal
  • -  Modern architectural elements
  • -  reinforced concrete construction
  • -  roof trusses
  • -  stages (platforms)
  • -  projection booths
  • -  fireplaces
  • -  round windows
  • -  New York -- New York County

Latitude / Longitude

  • 40.698589,-74.042623

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Recreation Building at the Ellis Island U.S. Immigration Station was designed and built between 1933 and 1937 as part of a series of projects made possible through New Deal public works funding. In 1933 the federally-appointed Ellis Island Committee completed a report that recommended widespread improvements to the immigration facilities, among which was the development of adequate accommodations for recreation. The Recreation Building was designed for Ellis Island by consulting architect Chester Aldrich and the Public Buildings Service, along with the New Immigration Building (1934-1936), Ferry Building (1934), and two Recreation Shelters (1936-37). The construction of these new facilities contributed to a reconfiguration of the island into clearly demarcated spaces for patients, immigrants and deportees, a shift that recognized the changing dynamics of immigration in the United States during the years of the Great Depression. The Recreation Building was intended to contribute to the physical and mental convalescence of patients at the hospital and to the routines of the island's numerous employees. It was placed, with a Recreation Shelter, at the west end of the central hospital court recently created by filling the lagoon between Islands 2 and 3. A garden, playground and recreation area for immigrants was planned around the New Immigration Building (though never executed) and a separate recreation yard and Recreation Shelter were planned for deportees on Island 1. The United States Public Health Service vacated the hospital facilities on March 1, 1951 and the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit at Ellis Island expanded to occupy additional Island 2 and 3 buildings. 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: N1679
  • -  Survey number: HABS NY-6086-V
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1936-1937 Initial Construction
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000058

Medium

  • Photo(s): 11
  • Measured Drawing(s): 8
  • Data Page(s): 53
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 1

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS NY-6086-V

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ny2379

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS NY-6086-V
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

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  • Data Pages
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    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

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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, Chester Aldrich, U.S. Public Buildings Service, Contractor Albert Development Corporation, Ellis Island Committee, Robert R Arzola, and Lisa Pfueller Davidson. Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. New York New York County, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2379/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Aldrich, C., U.S. Public Buildings Service, Albert Development Corporation, C., Ellis Island Committee, Arzola, R. R. & Davidson, L. P. (1933) Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. New York New York County, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2379/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al. Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ny2379/>.