Smallpox Hospital

Considered the only true “ruin” in New York City, the Smallpox Hospital closed its doors to patients in 1875. Today, its decrepit walls on Roosevelt Island can be seen from the city across the East River—but are best visited on the island itself. Architect James Renwick Jr. designed the hospital, in addition to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and other gothic revival style buildings in the city. The building housed so-called “incurables,” mostly immigrants who’d arrived in the United States unvaccinated and ill. But the sick were not the only ones isolated to the island. For many years, it also served as a penitentiary. Today, the structure is roofless, a standing facade of history and the macabre. It is photogenic by itself, but the island also offers fantastic views of the city across the East River.