New York Hospital, House of Relief Records

The House of Relief served as an emergency hospital in lower Manhattan from 1875-1919, operated and managed by the New York Hospital Board of Governors. Its mission was to be accessible to the poor, affording them “gratuitous treatment of cases resulting from accident or acute and sudden illness.” Several events led up to its founding.

When the first New York Hospital site closed in 1870, its Board of Governors considered a number of sites for building a new hospital. They also discussed establishing an interim facility, a “House of Relief,” for acute and emergency cases. Following the closing of the Park Hospital in 1875, the densely populated lower part of Manhattan was without provision for accident and acute care patients. In 1875 the New York Hospital Board of Governors was granted permission to lease a vacated police station, located at 160 Chambers Street. Possession of the building was taken on July 1, 1875, and the premises were quickly converted into a hospital and ambulance station. Alterations included the installation of hot water pipes, an elevator, and the addition of a kitchen on the top floor. Beds were added on the second to fifth floors to accommodate up to twenty-six patients, and a horse-drawn ambulance was acquired. The hospital opened for patients on July 5, 1875.

The New York Hospital Board of Governors appointed medical staff, who worked without compensation. Dr. Gurdon Buck served as Chief Surgeon until 1876, when the Board of Governors appointed Dr. William T. Bull as Attending Surgeon.

During Dr. Bull’s years at the House of Relief, an average of 150 patients was treated daily, many of whom required surgical intervention. In 1877 the outpatient department was expanded. Many of the minor surgeries were subsequently performed in the Dispensary. Upon Dr. Bull’s resignation in 1888, the Board appointed Dr. Lewis A. Stimson, whose staff included Assistant Surgeon Dr. Charles T. Parker and in 1893, Assistant Physician Lewis A. Conner. Dr. Conner, an experienced pathologist, appealed to the Board for a microscope and laboratory, resulting in a state-of-the art clinical and bacteriological laboratory at the House of Relief.

In 1891 the Board of Governors formed a Special Committee, which included Hermann H. Cammann, that was authorized to purchase a site on which a new hospital was to be built. In 1892 property was bought at 67-69 Hudson Street, and the architectural firm J. C. Cady & Co. was selected to design the building. The transfer of patients from the House of Relief on Chambers Street to Hudson Street took place on November 1, 1894, and the building was completed on March 5, 1895. The Chambers Street building was returned to New York City, after which it served as a fire station.

The New York Hospital Board of Governors wanted the new House of Relief to be a “model hospital for emergency cases,” having three distinct functions. It was to provide emergency treatment for accident and sunstroke cases, dispense medicines (free of charge to a great extent), and to provide treatment for patients who could not be sent away to their homes or to other hospitals.

The new hospital site was considered ideal because it had streets on three sides (Hudson, Jay, and Staple) affording “free circulation of air.” Dr. Stimson personally designed the arrangements of the surgical rooms. Antisepsis was a primary consideration throughout.

The building was five stories high. A second horse-drawn ambulance was acquired. The ambulance stable was in the basement. Special features of the hospital included isolation rooms, a sunstroke ward (with rolling baths and an electric lift) and an open-air garden on the roof. The hospital had in-patient facilities for thirty-five people.

The ambulance stable in the basement proved to be unfortunate because its emanating odors were “frequently distributed through the house.” In 1907 construction of an annex, the “Laundry and Stable Building,” began. It was located at the corner of Staple and Jay Streets, connected to the hospital by a second-story pedestrian bridge which contained pipes for steam and hot water. The annex was completed by 1908.

The open-air garden on the roof was converted to a ward for sunstroke victims and opened on December 13, 1911. It had a roof with skylights, and sides that closed in bad weather. The open-air ward accommodated ten patients, and had linen, pantry, kitchenette, and toilet facilities.

The House of Relief flourished under the direction and operation of Drs. Bull and Stimson. Other distinguished physicians included Lewis A. Conner, William S. Halsted, Charles T. Parker, and Robert F. Weir.

In 1918, the House of Relief was given to the U.S. Navy for hospitalizing their personnel. The dispensary and ambulance service were discontinued and the wards closed to civilians. The House of Relief was permanently closed on May 1, 1919, and the property was sold to the U.S. government.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Berntsen, Carl A. Jr., MD (1997). A History of Medical Care in New York City: The Principal Founders of Cornell University Medical College. Unpublished.

Flomenbaum, Neal, MD (October 2011). Everything Old is New Again. EMERGENCY MEDICINE: The Practice Journal for Emergency Physicians, p. 5.

Larrabee, Eric (1971). The Benevolent and Necessary Institution. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc.