March 27, 2007
Long-abandoned Ellis Island rooms to open for tours
Left vacant, deteriorating and abandoned for nearly 50 years, the 1936 Art Deco "new" ferry building at Ellis Island will reopen starting in April for limited public tours after its $6.4 million refurbishment, according to the Star-Ledger.
 The "new" ferry building is among the 30 structures that have been closed to the public since it was abandoned as an immigration center in 1954. (Portions of the island first opened as a museum in 1990.) Most of the buildings on the south side of the island were used as a hospital. But the "new" ferry building was actually the spot immigrants departed the island if they successfully navigated the entry process.
Limited hard-hat public access has been provided to the south side during Open House New York and other tours. (See NewYorkology's pictures of abandoned Ellis Island from 2005 and 2006 tours.)
 If you're in the front of the tourist ferry boat as you pull toward Ellis Island, the new ferry building is straight ahead. And if you look into the water at low tide, you can still see the remains of the sunken Ellis Island ferry, which the parks service plans to remove later this year.
Save Ellis Island (which is separate from the better-known Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation,) is still raising funds to restore and reopen more of the island's buildings.
In September, SEI's president told NewYorkology the next sections to open will be the hospital's laundry outbuilding and the Y-section of the red-bricked and windowed hallway that connects the entire hospital. Eventually, the morgue, operating room, powerhouse, laundry room and one of the contagious wards will also open to the public, she said.
 Image credits: All pictures taken by NewYorkology editor Amy Langfield while on the September 2006 tour sponsored by Save Ellis Island, the Historic Districts Council and the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen.
More pictures and links to earlier abandoned Ellis Island stories after the jump.
Earlier: Park Service plans to cut up sunken Ellis Island ferry
Open House New York 2007 set for October 6 and 7
Ellis Island adds ghostly photo exhibit of old hospital
Lowtide surprise: the sunken Ellis Island ferry
Ellis Island to open historic ferry building in winter
Ellis Island gets closer to opening Ferry Building
Shuttered Ellis Island buildings could open to public
NewYorkology Basics: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
March 27, 2007 02:43 PM in Architecture, Downtown, History, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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