6. Creedmor Psychiatric Center

Photo by Will Ellis.

The sprawling Creedmoor Pyschiatric Center was constructed in 1912 in Queens Village as the Farm Colony of Brooklyn State Hospital, one of hundreds of similar psychiatric wards erected at the turn of the century to house and rehabilitate those who were ill equipped to function on their own. By 1960, Creedmoor’s population swelled from 150 in 1918 to over 7,000. As late as 1984, the violent ward of Creedmoor Psychiatric Center was rocked with scandal following the death of a patient, who was struck in the throat with a blackjack by a staff member.  (The man was restrained in a straitjacket at the time.)

The campus continues to operate today, housing only a few hundred patients and providing outpatient services. Many of the buildings at Creedmor have been sold off. Others, like Building 25, lie fallow. Building 25 is notoriously filled with piled of pigeon poop while building 70 has the remnants of a former NYPD narcotics office filled with fake blood.