HX00029238 ♦♦.Society of the N, Y, Hospital P.A982. Nii3 So 1 Columbia (Bntoertfttp College of logicians; ano burgeons; Hiorarp Columbia SJmbertfitp tn tfje Ciip of J^eto gorfe College of •Pfrpgicians; ana burgeons Reference Hitarp THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL INCORPORATED 1771 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/societymaintainsOOnewy THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL INCORPORATED 1771 THE SOCIETY MAINTAINS THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL 6 WEST SIXTEENTH STREET AND 7-23 WEST FIFTEENTH STREET THE HOUSE OF RELIEF HUDSON AND JAY STREETS BLOOMINGDALE HOSPITAL FOR MENTAL DISEASES WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK CONVALESCENT COTTAGES WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK NEW YORK MCMXII NOTE THE Governors of the New York Hospital have been for some time deeply conscious of the defects of the present site of their main Hospital in 15th and 16th Streets. Owing to the erection of lofty buildings in its imme- diate proximity, the Hospital has been deprived to a great ex- tent of its light, air and sunshine — which are to-day recog- nized as indispensible prerequisites for proper hospital work. That it has been possible to conduct the Hospital at that spot with any degree of satisfaction, has been chiefly due to the fortunate but quite accidental circumstance that the land ly- ing directly opposite, on the southerly side of 15th Street, has not been built upon; but it is evidently impossible to count upon a continuance of these conditions for any length of time. The Governors of the Society, therefore, on January 31, 1910, adopted resolutions expressing their opinion that the present site had become inadequate, both in size and facilities, for the efficient performance of the work of the Society, and that these defects were increasing and seemed practically irremediable; and they set about enquiries as to obtaining a new and suitable site. In the Autumn of 1910 the Governors determined to pur- 7 NOTE chase the entire block bounded by 11th and 12th Avenues and 54th and 55th Streets for a new hospital, and this has now been done — with the exception of a single lot at the corner of 12th Avenue and 55th Street. The following brief history of the Society and of its devel- opment, together with a description of the buildings proposed to be erected upon the new site, has been prepared for the information of those who are interested in the welfare of this, the oldest Hospital in the State of New York. THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL THE Corporation now known as The Society of the New York Hospital, was created by a Royal Charter, which passed the seals on June 13, 1771. After the Revolution the charter was confirmed by the State of New York and the Society was generously aided by the Legislature. It had its origin in a large public subscription, headed by the Governor of the Province — Sir Henry Moore — which was opened in 1769 as the result of an address delivered by Dr. Samuel Rard at the Commencement of King's College in May of that year. Doctor Rard, a young American gentleman, had studied medicine in Edinboro, and on his return to New York had been engaged for two years with some of his medical col- leagues in teaching medicine and surgery in the Medical School in King's College. Its professors very soon found themselves under obvious difficulties in the way of giving clinical instruc- tion, and Doctor Rard's address in the Spring of 1769 was there- fore inspired largely by the vast importance of affording adequate opportunities for medical education; although he also dwelt with earnestness and eloquence upon the lack of neces- sary accommodations for the sick poor of so large a mercantile city as the New York of that day. THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL Five acres of ground on the westerly side of Broadway opposite Pearl Street were soon purchased as a site — al- though it was so far out of town as to be considered extremely inconvenient for visiting physicians and surgeons. The foun- dations for a building were laid in July, 1773, but owing to a fire when the building was near completion, it was not quite finished when New York fell into the hands of the British in the war of Independence. During the war, the hospital build- ing was occupied by British and Hessian soldiers as barracks, and occasionally as a hospital. The effects of war — physical and financial — prevented the opening of the Hospital for several years; so that it was not until January 3, 1791, that the house was in proper condition to receive patients. From that time forward it continued for a long time to be the only hospital in the City of New York. During the many years of its existence the Hospital has always had the benefit of the services of some of the most dis- tinguished physicians and surgeons of this country. To men- tion only a few of those who are dead, reference may be made to Dr. Samuel Bard, Dr. Wright Post, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, Dr. David Hosack, Dr. Valentine Mott, Dr. John Kearny Rodgers, Dr. Edward Delafield, Dr. Thomas M. Markoe, Dr. William H. Van Buren, Dr. Willard Parker, Dr. William H. Draper and Dr. William T. Bull. The list of its Governors includes many of the most notable names among the citizens of New York. Among other former Governors, since deceased, are John Jacob Astor, William Bayard, Aaron Burr, James W. Beekman, Robert C. Cornell, James Duane, Thomas H. Faile, Philip Flone, Abram S. Hew- itt, John Jay, James Kent, Edward King, William Laight, Lindley Murray, Edwin D. Morgan, William H. Osborn, John Harsen Rhoades, John A. Stevens, Jackson S. Schultz, Charles 10 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL E. Strong, Frederick D. Tappen, Richard Varick and Samuel Willets. Its Presidents were John Watts, John Alsop, Rich- ard Morris, Issac Roosevelt, Theophylact Bache, Gerard Wal- ton, Matthew Clarkson, Thomas Eddy, Peter Augustus Jay, George Newbold, George T. Trimble, John C. Green, Robert Lenox Kennedy, William H. Macy, James M. Brown, Robert J. Livingston, Merritt Trimble, Sheppard Gandy, Cornelius N. Bliss, Philip Schuyler, Theodorus Bailey Woolsey — all now dead. 11 THE SUCCESSIVE HOSPITAL BUILDINGS THE older residents of this City remember well the mas- sive central building of venerable gray stone that stood in the midst of grass and trees upon the Hospital prop- erty — just north of Duane Street and discreetly drawn back from the continuous roar of Broadway. But for a new porch, it was the original Hospital of Revolutionary days. In due season other buildings, less conspicuous from the street, grew up about it on the same plot — and among them was a Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1808 and capable of accom- modating about seventy patients as lunatics were then housed. But by 1815 the demands upon both the Hospital and the Asylum had become so great that a piece of land containing some twenty-six acres situated on the Harlem Heights about seven miles from the City, and fronting on the Bloomingdale Road, was purchased at $500 per acre, as a site for a new and more extensive building for insane patients. Some small pieces of ground adjoining were subsequently added, making in all about eighty acres, which were bounded on the North by a line approximately that of the present 120th Street. On this rocky farm the corner stone of a building for the accommo- dation of insane patients was laid in 1818, and the new build- 13 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL ing was opened for the accommodation of patients in 1821, when the patients were transferred from the Asylum in the City. By 1894, eighty acres of land near "the seven-mile stone at Bloomingdale" had become of such value that the Gover- nors of the Hospital resolved to sell that property and remove the institution to a farm of about three hundred acres in the neighborhood of White Plains — where the work of the Society for the benefit of persons suffering from mental dis- eases has since been conducted. But previous to the removal from old Bloomingdale, the demands of business in the neighborhood of the original Hos- pital had become so great that it was determined to remove that also. It was thought proper to select a locality nearer to what was then the central part of the City; and accordingly in 1869, land on the northerly side of 15th Street just west of Fifth Avenue, was purchased. Upon this property the present Hospital buildings were erected from designs fur- nished by Mr. George B. Post. The main building was inaugurated on March 16, 1877, and was justly regarded at that time as constituting the very highest type of hospital construction. It was well and thoroughly built and well designed — the main wards being regarded even now as models. The total capacity of the Hos- pital, including certain small private wards, but exclusive of the children's ward, was one hundred and sixty-three beds. The children's ward added the possibility of twelve or fifteen beds more. Since that time some additional land has been purchased both on 15th and 16th Streets and a nurses' home, a private patients' building, a superintendent's house, a pathological laboratory, and a building used for a laundry and servants' 14 THE SUCCESSIVE HOSPITAL BUILDINGS dormitory, have been erected. Two small private houses have also been purchased for the use of nurses. Even with these additions, the total number of beds for patients is only about two hundred and twenty-five; for it is the increased demands made by the advances of medical and surgical knowl- edge in the past thirty-five years, which have compelled the great additions to the original building above referred to. Admirable as these buildings were for their day, they are now quite inadequate to the demands made upon them; and it is impossible to acquire, in that locality, the land so sorely needed for expansion — even if it were desirable to attempt the expansion and reconstruction which would be necessary to bring the Hospital buildings up to modern requirements, in a portion of the town so occupied by tall commercial buildings. When the Hospital buildings in lower Broadway were abandoned, it was thought desirable by the Governors that the portion of the City adjacent to the Hospital, and which had so long depended upon it for hospital facilities, should not be entirely deserted. Accordingly, a small building formerly used as a police station in Chambers Street, west of Broadway was occupied as an Emergency Hospital. This proving of great service to the community, the Society subsequently pur- chased a much larger piece of land on the corner of Hudson and Jay Streets, and erected there what is known as the House of Relief or Hudson Street Hospital, with a capacity of about forty-five beds. This branch has done and is doing in cramped quarters a most admirable work. Its out-patient and am- bulance departments especially are worthy of all commen- dation and support. In addition, the Society has recently established conva- lescent homes on its property near White Plains, in which an average of about fifty men, women and children a day are 15 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL cared for entirely without charge. The value of fresh country air and an entire physical and mental rest for convalescents has been very amply demonstrated in the history of these branches of the Society's work. 16 THE PRESENT WORK OF THE HOSPITAL OWING to the good fortune of the Society in disposing to advantage of the land formerly occupied by it in lower Broadway and its land near 120th Street, it has until now been in a position to carry on its large and steadily growing work without appeal to the public for assistance. How vast that work has been appears from the fact that since the foundation of the Hospital nearly 1,600,000 patients have been treated within its walls. At no time has this work been heavier than it is now. The following statistics will show what has been done during the year just ended: The number of individuals who received care and treat- ment in all departments during the year 1911, amounted to no less than 64,677. Taking only the main Hospital in 16th Street, with which this paper is chiefly concerned, we have the following figures: Total number of patients admitted in all divisions of the Hospital (excluding Out-Patient Department) 12,936 Total days' care of patients in wards (excluding emergency cases remaining less than one day) . . 83,040 Same in private rooms ..... 7,990 17 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL Number of individuals treated in Out-Patient De- partment ........ 17,143 Number of Ambulance calls . . . . 6,530 (It may be observed that the total number of ambulance calls, taking 16th Street and Hudson Street together, was 11,689 — the largest ambulance service in the city — all purely gratuitous.) The operating expenses of the 16th Street branch for the year were .... $254,312.74 The receipts from patients (chiefly from private patients) were 105,624.90 Leaving a deficit of $148,687.84 to be made up from the income of investments. This sum is the income (at four per cent) of more than $3,500,000. The Society has hitherto received no support from the City authorities, and its income has now become insufficient for its maintenance. With the increasing growth of the City, and — what is perhaps a more urgent reason — with the rapid develop- ment of new methods of caring for the sick, this Society can no longer meet the just demands upon it, without recourse to the generosity of the public-spirited citizens of the metropolis. Their predecessors, more than a hundred and forty years ago,, laid the foundation of the present noble system for the relief of suffering in its various forms; and the people of New York have never yet failed to supply the means for the essential development of the material requirements of the New York Hospital. 18 sa^a^i^^^^^iaaaaa ^isaasaaaaaaaMeaaaaiaasMaaMaMi^M^^cifieaaeaasiafieMgiiM ^N^SNN\\WW^ 1 S4^ BT, W. 5S * ST. ;v'" ' ^-:;:v;:-:: ■: : -.^"''::";:::- -- ^-""-:;' PLOT PLAN OF NEW 1DRK HOSPITAL . THE NEW SITE THE property purchased for a new site consists, as above stated, of substantially the whole block bounded by 11th and 12th Avenues and 54th and 55th Streets. From east to west it is eight hundred feet long, and it faces for its full length on De Witt Clinton Park — a small park ex- tending westerly from 11th Avenue to the Hudson River, and southerly from 54th to 52nd Street. This frontage gives to the new site of the Hospital advan- tages which are enjoyed by no other similar institution in the City of New York ; for the essential prerequisites of fresh air and sunshine for Hospital buildings are adequately and per- manently secured to the south. On the west is the Hudson River, from which the westerly line of the Hospital property is separated by an avenue two hundred and fifty feet in width. At the Eleventh Avenue end of the property the ground is much above the River; and it slopes thence gradually to the west, affording excellent opportunities for drainage. The actual site of the Hospital property is nearly four acres in size; but having all the advantages of light and air which a public park in front of it affords, it is not unfair to say that 19 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL the land of which the Hospital will be able to avail itself will amount to as much as thirteen acres — an area that could hardly be looked for in the heart of the City of New York. 20 THE PROPOSED NEW HOSPITAL BUILDINGS THE plans for the new buildings have been prepared by Messrs. McKim, Mead & White as architects, with the co-operation of Doctor Goldwater, the Superinten- dent of Mt. Sinai Hospital, and Doctor Howell, the Superin- tendent of the New York Hospital, and also with the advice of the Medical Board of the Hospital to whom all the various plans have been submitted for criticism. The first of the accompanying diagrams exhibits the relation of the Hospital site to the park and the adjacent streets. It also shows the outlines of the buildings which it is proposed at the present time to construct. While planning for a Hospital of about three hundred beds it has been the intention to adapt the initial buildings to a final, consistent and economical enlargement of the Hospital plant to the full capacity of the entire block. The consider- ation of various schemes and preliminary studies has there- fore resulted in the preparation of the plans which provide for the immediate erection of a complete group of modern Hospi- tal buildings, with all the necessary adjuncts for scientific and educational work, and which will accommodate approximately three hundred beds. At the same time, full consideration has been given to the future enlargement of all the various Hospi- 21 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL tal units; and it is believed that this has been provided for in the best manner possible, considering both economy of future construction and the importance of conducting such future construction with a minimum degree of disturbance to those who may then be occupants of the Hospital. The laying out of the initial buildings, with proper pro- vision for enlargement, will necessarily add much to the pre- sent cost; but it is believed that such action will in the end prove wise economy. The elevation, perspective sketch, and plans of two of the floors, which are annexed, will explain more fully how the sev- eral requirements of the problem have been met. The letters from Doctor Goldwater and Messrs. McKim, Mead & White appended hereto, give a more detailed descrip- tion of the proposed new buildings; and reference may be made to these letters for a fuller explanation of the purposes of the several parts of the group and the reasons which have deter- mined the adoption of the present plans. It will be observed that the group of buildings proposed consists in reality of eight independent buildings, which are all in effect separate; although they are connected with each other by passages or bridges. They consist of the following : No. 1 Out-Patient, Admitting and Emergency Depart- ments; No. 2 Private Patients' Building; No. 3 Children's Wards, Semi-Private Wards, etc.; No. 4 Public Wards; No. 5 Nurses' Home (subsequently to be used for Medi- cal Wards when No. 4 will become a surgical building purely) ; No. 6 Psychopathic Building. 3 > > z h a cj uj a. O lo a. «: o THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL No. 7 Kitchens, Laundry, Servants' Dormitory and Operating Rooms (on the top floor) ; No. 8 Laboratory Building. With one exception, the purposes of the above-mentioned buildings are sufficiently explained by their titles, and they will take the place of other buildings for like purposes now in existence at 15th and 16th Streets. The one exception is the building called the Psychopathic Building, which is intended for the care of cases of mental or nervous disease. There is no adequate accommodation now existing in the City of New York for such cases, except at Bellevue Hospital, where the surroundings are often very undesirable for people of education and refinement, and tend to aggravate rather than improve the condition of such patients. The non-exist- ence of suitable hospital accommodations for this class of cases is a reproach to the City of New York. It seems to be espe- cially the duty of the Society of the New York Hospital — hav- ing a large and well-equipped establishment at Bloomingdale, White Plains, for the care of mental disease — to establish a small hospital in the City for the reception and prompt treatment of such patients at an early stage of their disease. Early treatment often prevents the development of chronic conditions. One other point in reference to the new buildings should be mentioned. The original object of those who founded the New York Hospital was the furnishing of opportunities for clinical instruction. That important function of hospital work was never overlooked in the earlier days; and if it has been par- tially disregarded in more recent times, it is largely because of the inadequacy of the present Hospital buildings for the ac- commodation of students. In planning the new buildings, the demands of education 24 THE PROPOSED NEW HOSPITAL BUILDINGS have been kept steadily in view. Rooms for a large house staff and ample accommodations for pupil nurses have been provided. In addition, an amphitheatre for surgical oper- ations, a well lighted and well ventilated autopsy room, and an "examining room" for clinical teaching, adjacent to each of the public wards, has been planned. The laboratories also are designed upon an unusually large scale so as to give scope for proper laboratory instruction and research; and the labor- atory building is capable of being easily doubled in size, with- out affecting any of the adjacent Hospital buildings. It is hoped that with these increased accommodations, thorough and systematic instruction for nurses, physicians, surgeons and students may be developed. The advantages of separate buildings, from the point of view of light, air and ventilation, need not be dwelt upon. It is believed that these advantages are fully secured by the pro- posed distribution of space; while at the same time conven- ience of administration seems to be admirably served by means of the various communicating passages. Any one of the separate buildings could, of course, be erected as a memorial, as donors might desire; or, if a donor were un^ willing to contribute the cost of an entire building, single wards — whether for children or adults — could be given and appropriately named. No more desirable or permanent memorial can well be imagined. The total cost of the group of buildings that it is proposed to erect at the present time will be, as appears from the an- nexed letter of Messrs. McKim, Mead & White, about three million dollars. The figures have been checked by actual bids, and there is every reason to think that, as the result of competitive bidding, the above figure can be materially re- duced. 25 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL Contributions toward the cost of these buildings are invited. Any further information that may be desired in reference either to the architects' plans, or to the present work of the Hospital, may be obtained from the officers of the Society or the members of the Committee — whose names and addresses are appended hereto. George L. Rives, President, 69 East 79th Street. Howard Townsend, Vice President, 15 East 86th Street. Edward W. Sheldon, Treasurer, 45 Wall Street. Henry W. Crane, Secretary, 8 West 16th Street. Henry W. de Forest, Chairman of the Committee on Site, 30 Broad Street. Frank K. Sturgis, 36 Broad Street. David B. Ogden, 54 William Street. Henry G. Barbey, 15 West 38th Street. 26 A LETTER FROM THE ARCHITECTS March 11, 1912. To THE Building Committee of the Proposed New York Hospital, Mr. David B. Ogden, Acting Chairman. Dear Sirs: WE beg to send you herewith a complete set of blue prints showing the preliminary plans at VW scale to the foot of the proposed new hospital to be situated on the plot between 11th and 12th Avenues and West 54th and 55th Streets. These plans are the result of a very care- ful study of the requirements made by Doctor Goldwater and this office, and at the same time taking careful consideration of the probable means available for its construction. The plans show on the 11th Avenue front a three-story building running north and south 52 x 200 feet, containing the main entrance to the hospital for all except private pa- tients, the admitting department, and the out-patient depart- ment. Immediately west of this out-patient department building on the south front of the lot is shown a six story building for private patients, having on the first floor an entrance, and also offices, reception and examining rooms, rooms for resident officers, and containing above, five floors of patients' rooms with complete service, including operating service on the top floor. These six floors are planned to have a height equal to 27 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL the height of five ward floors, and would accommodate about fifty-five beds. To the north of this private patient building is a two-story building containing board room, offices and ambulance en- trance for private patients on the first floor, and physical- therapy and X-ray on the second floor. To the north of this building again and fronting on 55th Street is a six-story building 46 x 70 feet, containing a mortuary chapel and funeral yard annex on the first floor, and labora- tories on the floors above, including an autopsy room on the top floor. The six floors in this building are equal in height to five stories of ward floors. In the center of the entire plot to the south the plans show a group of four ward buildings — the two central buildings seven stories high, the easterly and westerly ones five stories high. The easterly building contains on the first floor the Superintendent's apartment, and on the four upper floors wards for children and for adults, with a total capacity of 100 beds. The corresponding building on the westerly end of the central group is occupied by the psychiatric department. Of the two central buildings, that to the east has the ward visitors' entrance with its waiting room on the ground floor, accommodations for the house staff on the first floor, and wards with a total capacity of 180 beds on the six upper floors. The buildings to the west, which eventually will be a ward building, is shown on the plans to be temporarily used as a nurses' home, giving on the seven floors a total capacity of 175 beds. The two ward buildings for immediate use, together with the private patient building, would thus accommodate approximately 335 beds. To the north of this group of four buildings is a service building 44 x 362 feet, the cellar and first floor of which con- tain kitchens and laundry, and also nurses' and staff dining rooms and dining rooms for male and female help. Above the first floor this building is reduced to 44 x 152 feet in size, and contains on four floors dormitory accommodations for help 28 A LETTER FROM THE ARCHITECTS with a capacity of 152 beds. The top floor of this building is assigned to operating service for all except private patients. To the west of the central group is shown a future building the erection of which is not contemplated at the present time, and ultimately to be used as a nurses' home, and assigned to accommodate in the south wing special medical and surgical services to be used when the hospital is completed and equipped for 600 patients. In the service building behind the central group which has been reduced to one-half of its eventual size, there will be on the five upper floors of the completed structure double the capacity shown on this plan, while the laboratory building may also be given a future extension doubling its capacity. Complete communication and direct connection exists in the cellar and on the first and second floors. Above this level inter-communication exists between the buildings of the cen- tral group only, excepting that the operating rooms on the top floor are connected directly by bridges with the ward buildings. The cellar, which actually is out of ground in most of the buildings, will contain the power plant, laundry, kitchens, pumps, storage space, service corridors, etc. A sub-cellar is contemplated to accommodate all steam power and plumbing pipes, ventilating ducts and electric wir- ing, and covering as much space as is actually needed for the purpose. The total cubical contents of all the buildings assigned for the structure has been computed by us as amounting to 6,625,770 cubic feet. And assuming that economy is used in building material, interior as well as exterior, and allowing for a simple facade constructed with a granite or limestone base not higher than the level of the second floor, with a brick facade above and possibly relieved by a stone or terra cotta treatment, 40 cents per cubic foot may be considered a mini- mum of cost. Allowing for more liberal construction, 50 cents may be fairly considered a maximum cost. 29 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL Upon a basis of 40 cents translated into dollars, the cost would be §2,650,308; and at 50 cents, this would be increased to $3,312,885. Yours very truly, McKim, Mead & White. 30 A LETTER FROM DOCTOR GOLDWATER IN the preparation of the plans an effort has been made to design for each major department of the Hospital that type of building which will best meet the requirement, to effect such a grouping of the units as will facilitate interior communication between the buildings which make up the Hospital group, and to turn to good account all the advan- tages of the carefully chosen site. In the earlier work on the plans no thought was given to considerations of a purely aesthetic nature. The scheme proposed is most elastic, whether viewed in its entirety or in respect to the particular units of which it is composed. There is nothing in the plan, as a plan (aside from the obviously desirable short connecting corridors), which will necessitate the construction of a single foot of building except for a specific and predetermined use. The scheme is such that each department, whether ward, out-patient department, laboratory, domestic service building, etc., can be provided for strictly upon its individual merits, while at the same time the future development of the Hospital in all its parts is an- ticipated, and a means indicated for orderly growth in any and all directions, with the least possible disturbance. The following details of the plan merit brief mention. The typical ward is well exposed on three sides, east, west and south, and in outline is adapted to the available site. The 31 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL ward accessories will conform in their character and arrange- ment to advanced ideas concerning the grouping of patients and proper ward service. Roof wards are provided, together with ample, well-distributed and favorably exposed balcony spaces. The separation between ward and ward may be made as complete as in the case of individual ward pavilions. A central department for physical therapeutics, to be loca- ted in the two-story connecting building lying between the out-patient department and the buildings to the west, will be equally accessible from the wards, the out-patient department, and the private patients' pavilion. The out-patient department is so placed as to shield the wards and the private patients' pavilion from Eleventh Avenue. The out-patient building itself has one quiet side for examining rooms for the medical departments. The admitting department of the Hospital proper is placed in convenient proximity to the out-patient department en- trance. The admitting (and emergency) department has two entrances on the street level, one for walking patients, the other for ambulance patients. The executive offices lie between the main entrance, the out-patient department entrance, the entrance for private patients, the wards and the laboratories. The ambulance yard, the funeral yard and the goods- receiving yard are all removed from the sight and hearing of patients. There are three main corridors; one on the first floor, slightly above the f fth Avenue street-level, for the use of the staff and visitors generally (there are no patients on this floor) ; one, the basement corridor, approximately at the f 2th Avenue street-level, for the distribution of supplies and the use of employees; and one on the second floor, for the movement of patients from the receiving wards to their wards of destination, and for the movement or transportation of patients from all departments to the central therapeutic departments. All private rooms, both front and rear, will be well lighted ; 32 A LETTER FROM DOCTOR GOLDWATER those facing south will have the advantage of park view and southern exposure; those facing north will be the quieter. The operating rooms, on the level of the fifth ward story, are connected by two bridges with the ward buildings, and also with the pathological laboratory. The pathological laboratory is so placed that its top floor may be used in part as an autopsy-room, and its roof for the accommodation of test animals; also, so that future additions may be made to its capacity without interruption of function. The typical ward buildings, occupying the south centre of the block, are shown in the plan as buildings of seven full stories, each surmounted by a roof ward. The first floor, how- ever, is reserved for dormitories for the resident medical staff. The westerly typical ward building, which will be used temporarily as a nurses' home, is of approximately the size required to house a staff of 150 pupil nurses. The slope of the ground brings the basement of this building well above street level permitting the use of this floor as a social centre for the nurses, with separate entrance and reception rooms. The building is close to the domestic building, which contains the nurses' dining room. A similar proximity will be noticed between the nurses' dining room and the northerly wing of the future nurses' home. Occupying the space between the private patients' building and the easterly typical ward building, is a five-story ward building of special design, intended chiefly for children. A spacious loggia and a group of small wards with southern exposure, are special features of this building. This building lies east of the two central, typical ward buildings. To the west of the central wards, more remote from the street, and corresponding in general outline, but not in its interior plan, to the children's ward building, is the proposed psychiatric hospital. Proceeding from the general entrances and the administration centre, the psychiatric hospital is the terminal ward building. Its segregation may be made complete, and the privacy of its inmates fully protected. 33 THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL The kitchen and laundry and receiving and store rooms are all on one level, that of the basement floor, affording the max- imum convenience in the domestic economy of the Hospital. The dining rooms for nurses, staff and help are directly above, and readily served from the main kitchen; suitable access is provided to each room. The dormitories for the help are approached through a special arm of the basement corridor. Half of these rooms will have street exposure, the other half looking out on quiet open courts. By future additions over the kitchen and nurses' dining room, dormitory capacity may in the future be doubled. The foregoing indicates only the main features of the plan as thus far developed. 34 SOUTHERN ELEVATION OF PROPOSED NEW YORK HOSPITAL BUILDINGS c NUH3E3 FUTURE > 1 . NEW.YORP •KEY T - 1 r~ NURSEJ' FUTUR \ NE V TORI HOSPITAL NEW K»l HOSPITAL .SECOND FLOOR PLAN FIFTH FLOOR PLAN FLOOR PLANS OF PROPOSED NEW YORK HOSPITAL BUILDINGS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE CZS<25!) lOOM