The Abandoned Buildings at Sea View Hospital on Staten Island

We’ve previously taken you inside the abandoned tunnels and the old Children’s Hospital within Sea View Hospital on Staten Island, but what’s truly fascinating is that abandoned buildings dot the entire complex. They stand side by side with more modern buildings and historical ones that have been repurposed for new uses. In fact, the entire area is a historic district, which includes the Staten Island Farm Colony across the street.

Sea View Hospital was once the pride of the city’s health care system, built at great cost to combat tuberculosis. In fact, it was the most expensive city-owned health care facility. The buildings and layout were the work of Raymond F. Almirall, a New York City architect responsible for other notable municipal and institutional buildings, including the former Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building on Chambers Street.

The patient pavilions were divided by gender, connected underground by tunnels and linked by an octagonal kitchen, which also sits abandoned today.

The top of the patient pavilions feature beautiful terra cotta murals imported from Delft, Holland:

The Sea View property is still managed by the city, which undertook renovations of the nurse’s quarters – now Park Lane at Sea View, a senior living facility run by Domain Companies.

The abandoned Children’s Hospital is a popular destination for film location shoots, the last of the tuberculosis buildings to be built (in 1935-37):

The former power plant is filled with asbestos and will require significant abatement even before either a demolition or rehabilitation can take place:

In 1917, two rings of open-air pavilions were added for ambulatory patients. Most of those in the women’s ring, located just south of the former nurse’s residence still stand and one of these pavilions has been renovated. Green terra cotta roof from another structure was relocated from a twin structure.

Other buildings have been repurposed for other uses, including the City Mission Chapel, formerly the Chapel of St. Luke, the Physician, which is now the Sea View Playwright’s Theatre. The Pathology Laboratory is the offices of the Staten Island Ballet. The former Dining Hall, Kitchen, Service and Bakery Building from 1914 is now the Camelot, a counseling and living recovery program for young men battling substance abuse.

In addition, the surgical pavilion has been converted into a museum and the renovation of a small house has accompanied the construction of The Brielle, a new assisted living facility on the Sea View property.

Next, take a look at the abandoned tunnels within Sea View and see our exploration of the Farm Colony, just across the street.