August 2022 Photo Contest

[ndembowski]

Let’s see if anyone can identify this local building, which is no longer standing.  I’ll drop a hint later if no one can figure it out.  This is a tricky one in my opinion.  I had no idea this building existed until I saw this photo.

[Peter Ostrander]

Seton Hospital?  Looks like the Palisades in background and the cross.

[Thomas Casey]

Not The Big Seton Hospital – TX Casey

[DrDan]

I don’t remember this building but it must have been part of the Seton complex. I remember wandering around in the empty hospital before it was demolished.

 

[Thomas Casey]

Looks like St Johns on Corlear Ave, but a new version there now.

[garrett]

Looks like the photos I’ve seen of Seton, quite an elaborate complex with only the grotto remaining now.

[ndembowski]

Between all the guesses I think it is fair to say that communally you found the answer.  It was indeed part of the Seton hospital complex but it was not Seton Hospital–at least not the “big building,” which faced east.  As you can see it was much bigger:

The photo at the beginning of this thread was the separate children’s hospital called the Nazareth Home for Children.  Check out this clipping from a 1901 Bromley map showing the locations of the different hospital buildings (the road on the right was the Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, which followed the course of the modern Henry Hudson Parkway):

The Digital Culture site has some photos of inside and outside the hospital such as this one:

The first photo shows some rock outcroppings in front of the children’s hospital and there are very similar ones still visible behind PS 24 on W. 235th Street where there is a playground today at the eastern end of Seton Park.

I was also curious when I came across this image (apparently there were ambitions to modernize and continue operations on the site).  That sure would have changed the character of the neighborhood:

I’d love to hear more about Dr. Dan’s earlier post when he sneaked into Seton Hospital before it was demolished.  I assume that was neighborhood kids snooping around where they didn’t belong, which must have been a lot of fun!

[Peter Ostrander]

Interesting that the proposed design of the new Seton Hospital never built looks a lot like the the present White Hall apartment complex at 232St and HH Pkwy.

[Alan Lasky]

I had not seen this thread earlier. Here is a pic showing the building with its surroundings in 1948, and some links to some other great photos of Seton Hospital and environs. Note that some are incorrectly labeled as Seaton Hospital on Staten Island on the source site, but are clearly Seton Hospital in Riverdale.

The zoom feature on these links can be problematic, best bet is to download the full size original files, where the tremendous detail can be enjoyed.
https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/27246
https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/27245
https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/27249
https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/27251

Plus a few later ones from 1956…
https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/s/j86s59

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