New York Cancer Hospital
455 Central Park West | also 27 West 105th Street | Manhattan Valley | built 2002
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1882
John Jacob Astor, turned down by Woman's Hospital, agrees to fund a new cancer hospital
In 1882 John Jacob Astor offered to pay for a pavilion for cancer patients at the Woman's Hospital. After it turned him down, he said he would pay for the first building of the New York Cancer Hospital, a project then being organized by Elizabeth Hamilton Cullum, a cousin of Astor's wife, and John E. Parsons. Land was bought at West 106th Street and Central Park West, in an area that had begun to fill with private houses after the Ninth Avenue elevated opened in 1879.
“When this offer was rejected, Astor agreed to finance the first building of the New York Cancer Hospital…”
- 1884
Work begins on the first US hospital devoted only to cancer
Founded in 1884 as the country's first hospital solely for cancer patients, with physician J. Marion Sims as a driving force and John Jacob Astor III among its funders, the hospital was designed by Charles Coolidge Haight and built in 1884–86, with additions in 1889–90. Its round wards, about 40 feet across, avoided corners where germs and dirt were thought to gather, and central shafts carried away odors.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1887
The hospital's opening slips a year over sewer connections and two outbuildings
The New York Cancer Hospital was essentially finished in 1886 but did not open until 1887. The delay came from trouble securing proper sewer connections and the need to put up two more buildings: a small mortuary, no longer standing when the Landmarks report was written, and a boiler house, laundry and servants' dormitory at 32 West 106th Street. Many early patients were treated free of charge.
“…the opening was delayed a year because of difficulties in establishing proper sewer connections and the necessity of erecting two additional buildings…”
- 1887
Round towers give the hospital an unusual chateau-like design
Architect Charles Coolidge Haight designs the New York Cancer Hospital with round corner towers resembling a sixteenth-century French chateau, after physicians argue that square corners let germs and dust accumulate. The hospital, the first in America devoted solely to cancer treatment, formally opens on December 6, 1887.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1889
Astor pays for a men's wing in memory of his wife Charlotte Augusta
By the time the women's building opened in 1887, plans were underway for an addition to house male patients, to stand on the neighboring lot at Central Park West and 105th Street. John Jacob Astor paid for that wing too, built in 1889-90, in memory of his wife Charlotte Augusta Astor. The original building, housing women with cancer, was known as the Astor Pavilion because he had funded it.
“The addition built in 1889-90 was also funded by John Jacob Astor in memory of his wife Charlotte Augusta Astor.”
- 1892
The hospital dedicates its Chapel of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
The hospital dedicates a memorial chapel, named for St. Elizabeth of Hungary, on November 27, 1892, as part of an expansion that also adds the Astor Pavilion, funded by John Jacob Astor.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1921
Marie Curie visits the hospital's radium collection
Having moved from comfort care to radiation therapy, the hospital held what was then the largest accumulation of radium in the world, and Marie Curie came to see it in 1921. The institution moved away in 1955 and became part of Memorial Sloan-Kettering. The old building later housed the Towers Nursing Home, closed in 1974 amid neglect and fraud scandals; it became a landmark in 1976 and was converted to condominiums in 2000–05.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1955
The cancer hospital moves east and its old building becomes a nursing home
General Memorial Hospital, the cancer institution that had occupied the building, left its outdated Central Park West home in 1955 for a new East Side site, where it grew into today's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The vacated building began to decline. Under nursing-home owner Bernard Bergman it became the Towers Nursing Home.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
The Towers Nursing Home closes amid a fraud investigation
The building, which had become the Towers Nursing Home after the cancer hospital relocated in 1955, closes in 1974 following investigations into allegations of Medicaid and tax fraud.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1976
The Landmarks Commission designates the Towers Nursing Home after a contested hearing
The Landmarks Preservation Commission heard testimony on July 13, 1976 about the Towers Nursing Home, the former Cancer Hospital. Twenty-one witnesses spoke for designation and two against, and many letters arrived on both sides. The commission designated the building a landmark on August 17, 1976, citing its chateau-like design by Charles Coolidge Haight and its place as the first U.S. hospital devoted only to cancer.
“Twenty-one witnesses spoke in favor of designation. There were two speakers in opposition to designation.”
- 2000
MCL Companies buys the vacant hospital for $21 million after Ian Schrager's plan fails
The empty hospital had sat abandoned for nearly three decades. Hotelier Ian Schrager, part-owner of Studio 54, had tried and failed to turn it into luxury apartments. In March 2000 Chicago's MCL Companies stepped in, and its chief executive Daniel McLean bought the property for $21 million, planning a 26-story tower beside the landmark. Work stalled after September 11 until Columbia University bought several floors.
“Daniel E. McLean, president and chief executive of the MCL Companies bought the property for $21 million and began construction.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2005
The former hospital reopens as luxury condominiums
After decades of decline, the landmark building undergoes a multiyear renovation and is completed by early 2005 as luxury condominiums under the address 455 Central Park West, with some units selling for as much as $7 million.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- New York Cancer HospitalWikipedia
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