420 Comments for Renwick Smallpox Hospital

You know what, I take that all back - I can't be ho-hum about it. The more I look at that page, honestly, the more it truly pisses me off. I do wish they let the old bldg. just go with it's dignity and it's (and my) memories. I am really getting so tired of this nouveau riche BS, they drove me out of my home city - NY - and this is really pathetic. I mean read that last paragraph on that page; how SMUG.

Ohhh nooo... more unaffordable, sterile, condos? what a terrible, terrible shame. Well, I suppose the only redemption there is if it keeps some semblance of this beautiful place intact as opposed to it just dissapearing. Sigh. The rich get richer.... and they want to live in the old "lunatic asylum", lol, I guess, somehow, it's fitting. (????) Jeeze, it just doesn't make any sense, lol.

"The Octagon" as it is sometimes called, is still located on Roosevelt Island. It was part of the New York City Lunatic Asylum that was located on the north side. It had a beautiful spiral staircase, then fell into disrepair to the point of it being a shell of a building. It is now being renovated into luxury apartments - http://www.octagonnyc.com/bldgHistory.asp

There used to be a strange octagonal little tower structure, I'm thinking I hadn't been there since '87, '88, '89, maybe - do I have the wrong place or is this little bldg still there? I used to love to look at it from across the river, esp. when they lit it all up. What a beautiful bidg. i believe it was also called Welfare Island. That's what I always knew it as. Maybe I had that wrong too?

they would need to knock it down cuz its impossible to make that again

the stairs dont go

is that a tombstone there?

why are the lights stiill on its from 1861 or whatever...

How could they allow this peice of history to go to waste? Give it to me I'll give a detailed tour of the Renwick smallpox Hospital and use to money to restore it's history!

Andrew, you are correct and I was incorrect...I was getting the Small pox hospital (pictured above) mixed in with the Octogon House (Asylum) which stands further north on the island, more near the Renwick lighthouse.

Sorry about that folks.. But Al Capone WAS treated for Syphllis at one of them.

I know it's a old pic, but that's not the Verrazano bridge.

That would be the Williamsburgh Bridge. The curve of Greenpoint/Williamsburgh & The Brookly Navy yard prevent you from seeing the Verrazano bridge from any point on Roosevelt island. Not to mention how Manhattan dips out a little.

But the fence is still up, and i guess winter is the best time to go. it's full of so many people in the summer.

I was just there a few weeks back.. that floor is no longer there lol.

The second floor is now the first floor.

Those wooden supports, I think, just add to the drama of the building in all of its abandonment. I'm glad they put for the effort to try and salvage it, but at the same time, how much effort could hoisting some beams and putting up a chainlink fence take?

Beautiful staircase. It doesn't look like it belongs with the rest of the building.

I love the contrast between the lights of the bustling city and the abandoned, forgotten hospital . It adds a nice touch to the photo.