4. Long Island College Hospital
Rooftop of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. Photo by: Francisco Roman/NBC from the show New Amsterdam.
The University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital, founded as the Long Island College Hospital in 1858, was a 506-bed teaching hospital in Brooklyn that closed on August 30, 2014. The hospital pioneered major advancements in the medical field such as bedside teaching. It became one of the first hospitals in the United States to use anesthesia and stethoscopes, and in 1873, it introduced the first emergency ambulance service in Brooklyn. The Polhemus Memorial Clinic, built as part of the LICH, was considered by author Joseph Korom in his book The American Skyscraper as “the first example of a skyscraper hospital — anywhere.”
On May 27, 2011, the LICH became part of SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital of Brooklyn, but just two years later, the Trustees of the State University of New York voted to close the hospital. After many efforts by the hospital to remain office, the closure of the hospital was stalled numerous times in court. Nine proposals to buy the LICH site were submitted, resulting in many accusations against bidders. By 2014, Fortis Property Group purchased LICH from SUNY, and hundreds of workers and nurses were laid off.