Lenox Health Greenwich Village is a 24-hour freestanding emergency department in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

which is a division of

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450 bed non-profit, Tertiary care, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the reg ...

. It was originally built in 1964 as the headquarters of the National Maritime Union, and was later used as a hospital building by

Saint Vincent's Hospital Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers (also known as Saint Vincent's or SVCMC) was a healthcare system in New York City, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan. St. Vincent's was founded in 1849 and was a majo ...

and then

Northwell Health Northwell Health is a nonprofit integrated healthcare network that is New York State's largest healthcare provider and private employer, with more than 105,000 employees. The flagship hospitals of Northwell are North Shore University Hos ...

. The building is in the Greenwich Village Historic District.

Architecture

The building's architecture reflects its original use as the headquarters of the National Maritime Union. Albert C. Ledner was the architect. It was one of three buildings in Lower Manhattan designed by Ledner for the organization; one of the others is now the Maritime Hotel. Exterior features include a white

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

with windows resembling

porthole A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehic ...

s, scalloped overhangs, and an elevator penthouse resembling a steamship smokestack, together being reminiscent of an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

. Upon its opening, it was noted for its deviation from the glass-box

Modernist architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural architectural movement, movement and architectural style, style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco Architectu ...

popular at the time. In 1966, ceramic tiles were applied to the building's exterior, which were removed in the 2014–2016 renovation. National Maritime Union President Joseph Curran approvingly called the building "the box in which the Guggenheim Museum came." Its interior design reflects the theme of maritime vessels and circular shapes. The ground floor has two circular spaces originally used as hiring floors, featuring

glass brick Glass brick, also known as glass block, is an architectural element made from glass. The appearance of glass blocks can vary in color, size, texture and form. Glass bricks provide visual obscuration while admitting light. The modern glass block ...

exteriors, and the rest of the building was designed to appear to be floating above them. Their double-height ceilings were later removed and replaced with spaces for outpatient clinics and offices, but they were restored in the 2014–2016 renovation.

History

The building was originally built in 1964, and was called the Joseph Curran Building. It was sold in 1974 and became the Edward and Theresa O'Toole Medical Services Building, part of

. In 2008, Saint Vincent's Hospital received permission to demolish the building, despite its historic significance, and construct a new hospital tower that would replace its old main building a block away. However, this did not actually occur. Saint Vincent's Hospital abruptly closed in 2010, and that year the O'Toole Building was taken over by

. Lenox Hill Hospital later that year became part of North Shore-LIJ Health System, now named

. It was renovated into a 24-hour

emergency care Emergency medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (or "ER doctors") specialize in providing care for unscheduled and undifferentiated pa ...

facility called the Phyllis and William Mack Pavilion, and reopened in 2014. The renovation architect was

Perkins Eastman Perkins Eastman is an international architecture, urban design, planning, strategic consulting, and interior design firm. Headquartered in New York City, the firm is led by founding Principals Bradford Perkins (architect), Bradford Perkins and M ...

. A challenge during the renovation was to adapt the traditional

orthogonal In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...

layout of an emergency room to the circular footprint of the ground floor.

References

{{Northwell Health Greenwich Village Northwell Health Hospitals in Manhattan