Outsiders: Leave the Smallpox Hospital Alone
Tearing it down might make sense, but that will never happen.
Ideas, good or bad, ought to have time limits. If nothing happens for years, they should disappear as if created with Etch A Sketch. “Restoration” of the Smallpox Hospital Ruins on the south end of Roosevelt Island is one of them.
Shake that Etch A Sketch, man, and make this go away!
Like a balloon into which someone keeps pumping helium, restoring the ruins keeps popping up. That someone is Stephen Martin, an architect who once worked for Four Freedoms State Park. The idea of restoring the ruins percolated briefly during his time there, and although the conservancy dumped the plan, he never let go of it.
Although never a Roosevelt Islander, Martin is trying to set up a meeting for Thursday morning, dragging in residents and resident groups:
“A small group of colleagues and Roosevelt Islanders from organizations involved in preservation, public parks, cultural stewardship, planning, and community engagement will gather to discuss what opportunities may exist for the site’s future, particularly as they relate to stabilization, public access, governance, and long-term stewardship.”
Martin has tried reanimating the ruins for over a decade. RIOC, which inherited stewardship when it took over governing Roosevelt Island, thought doing anything more than stabilizing the shell wasn’t worth the costs.
Hundreds of thousands have already been spent keeping the 150+ year old structure from returning to nature. Those investments were made in the interests of safety, not restoration.
Why the Smallpox Hospital Ruins Might Be Worth Saving
First, the main part of the structure, not the wings, was designed by James Renwick, Jr. Renwick’s architectural achievements include St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue and the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C.
But this building, opened in 1856, stayed a smallpox quarantine facility for less than 20 years. After several reinventions for different uses, the building became a permanent ruin over 75 years ago.
No one came up with a viable new use for it in a hundred years - until Four Freedoms Park considered embracing it before doing a complete 180. Martin has carried a torch for over a decade. He and his colleagues are thinking “…adaptive reuse as open space.”
No, that doesn’t really mean anything, although it sounds kinda nice.
More tangibly, Martin and Friends of the Ruins envision “A Garden Among Ruins: Space for Reflection.” And they want to raise millions for this roofless place where you can sit and read and Gen Z-ers can flip up their laptops once again and soak up free WiFi.
Realistically, the best argument for doing something about the ruin is that it has state, local and federal landmark status. Which means it, in Bob Dylan’s words, “ain’t a-goin nowhere.”
Nature will do its worst, but human hands will never dismantle the Smallpox Hospital.
Still, does that make it worth investing serious shekels in anything more than keeping it from falling on anyone foolish to climb over the fences?
Why Outsiders Should Leave the Smallpos Hospital Alone
What’s left of Renwick’s work is a glorious reminder of another time when art and design mattered for all buildings. The fact it’s a ruin emphasizes the point. Something’s been lost. Just look.
Of more practical concern are the costs. No one has taken a serious recent account of the money needed for restoration, but when Four Freedoms thought about it, a $4.5 million figure floated around. That’s about $6.8 million today.
And one thing nobody’s thought about: contamination. When RIOC restored the rest of Southpoint, chemical contamination discovered during the work required creating a protective membrane over which earth was piled up on top. That’s the park as you see it now inside the area bordered by the low stone walls.
The Smallpox Hospital does not fall in that area. That means environmental mitigation will be needed. That costs money too. Lots of it.
Assuming that’s all taken care of, the question remains: who is going to walk all the way down there just to sit inside the ruins. Although RIOC made a mess out of Southpoint, there are already plenty of places to sit around and even watch the sunsets. And Four Freedoms has its own collection of fans and new visitors walking by.
So, like, Who needs a garden among ruins? In the summer, maybe nice, but between October 1st and March 31st, forget about it. Emptiness.
And while you’re forgetting about it, think about this: who pays to maintain the place after it’s restored, year after year, decade after decade?
RIOC can’t afford it. Its budget is already a disastrous with speculative interest earnings already used to balance out of control costs. While that’s all very New York-like, it’s not something you want to nurture. Payment always comes due eventually.
And the state agency that gags at the thought of properly supporting nonprofits already in place should play dumb on this one.
Who’s coughing up the bucks?
Finally
Restoring the ruins is certainly well-meaning, if misguided. There is no appreciable reward for the money invested, should anyone scare it up.
Worse yet, restoration implies a longterm commitment. Nobody is or should be eager for that.