Sea View Home & Hospital and NYC Farm Colony

New York City Farm Colony – Seaview Hospital Historic District

Dozens of buildings, landmarked for it’s reflection of “the turn-of the century commitment made by the City of New York to improve the quality of both the social and health-care services received by members of its dependent community.” Once believed to be exemplary of New York City’s best early 20th century design for institutions of social causes.

Seaview Hospital

Seaview Hospital, opened in 1913 as one of the first municipal tuberculosis treatment center in the United States, on 400 acres of lush woodland in Todt HIll, Staten Island. It comprised of eight men and women’s wards, a powerhouse, staff house, surgical pavilion, an administration building, cafeteria, and some nurses homes. The size of the hospital is said to have been a mirror of the enormous responsibility to treat and find a cure for tuberculosis, “the white plague.” And it was in the 1950s after a series of clinical trials, that the drug for such cure was developed.

According to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation Report, “the building complex, together with its careful siting, adjacent landscaping and wooded surroundings, create the total therapeutic environment believed necessary for the successful treatment of tuberculosis.” When the hospital first opened, fresh air and rest were considered the best treatments. Designed by Raymond F. Almirall, the buildings are arranged like a fan, to maximize the amount of sunlight into each building. Each one was “light and airy” and “ample windows all around would ensure that the curative sea air would each the patients.”

At its peak in the 1930s, Seaview was New York City’s largest and most expensive government health-care facility, housing over 2,000 patients. It was here that the drug for the cure was discovered, but success, was ultimately the Hospital’s downfall. With the cure, patient population rapidly declined and the enormous Hospital was largely obsolete. By the 1960s, the hospital began its conversion into a long-term, adult health care facility. In the 1970s, the ward pavilions were emptied, and the four Men’s Ward Pavilion demolished.

The Women’s Ward Pavilion, although not demolished, was left abandoned and neglected. In its hey day, it was particularly revered for its ceramic murals, designed by Almirall himself. Almost life-sized figures of doctors, nurses, caring for young patients, decorated with crests, garlands, and sea shells, can be found throughout. Made in Delft, Holland, they were installed in 1914.

When the buildings were vacated, patient records were left behind. Over time these have decayed, and the ability of tracing the Seaview’s patient history lost. Nonetheless, the original tuberculosis treatment center remains in the memories of older residents, spent years as children here.

Seaview Hospital today, continues to serve the community as a long-term care rehabilitation facility for brain injury and adult health. Now named the HHC Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, it is essentially based out of a new hospital built in 1972 on the same campus. Many of the original buildings continue to rot, but after recent spur of renovation, some buildings of the original facility have once again been put to use.

NYC Farm Colony

The New York City Farm Colony, originally the Richmond County Poor Farm, was a charity complex established in 1829 where the poor and the mentally ill could live, find some work, and receive medical assistance.

Within the 104-acre property, there were a number of brick buildings, including seven dormitories, staff buildings, and walkways, that had a “campus-like” feeling. By 1902 the Farm Colony housed a population of 200, who could produce food for 3,000. In 1912, with 50% of the population over 50 years old and 25% over 70 years old, the Farm Colony began shifting towards a self-sustaining institution. In 1932, with 1,428 residents, the Farm Colony had become “a haven for old people. To accommodate the rise in population, more dormitories were added over time, and the Farm Colony, now an institution, became an adult care hospital and home.

Photographer Alice Austen, a Staten Island native, came to live here in 1945. Her works still largely undiscovered, Austen spent the last eight years of her life here after bankruptcy.

The Farm Colony was occupied until 1975, after which it was abandoned. In 1984, the property was consolidated with the Staten Island Greenbelt, and in 1985 the property was landmarked along with Seaview Hospital to form a single historic district. There have been no efforts geared towards rehabilitation, although some have expressed interest in developing new housing in the area.

Please note that Seaview is at the edge of La Tourette Park, near the College of Staten Island.