The South Side of Ellis Island

The 29 buildings on the south side of Ellis Island formed one of the largest hospitals built in the United States during the first decades of the 20th century, with more than a quarter million square feet of enclosed space and a significant, unified architectural design. After the island was vacated in 1954, maintenance of the buildings and grounds effectively stopped, and more than forty years of abandonment left them in a critical and accelerating state of deterioration. Preservation work focused on stabilization to correct deficiencies and slow deterioration while the structures remained vacant. This work included documenting historic plants and removing overgrown non-historic vegetation that threatened the buildings, making structural repairs to restore weather-resistant enclosures and reinforce weakened members, dismantling two severely deteriorated exterior porches whose collapse would have destroyed the attached facades, and removing hazardous materials including paint chips, asbestos, and pigeon guano, along with debris, fallen plaster, dust, and dirt. Broken windows and doors were replaced with enclosures that allowed air circulation while keeping out water, and skylights and roofs were repaired to prevent water infiltration. The stabilized buildings could remain mothballed for up to 15 years while plans for rehabilitation and adaptive reuse were developed to return the buildings to use.

New York, New York · United States