April 22, 2009
Ellis Island gets fed funds to save abandoned building
One of the century-old abandoned and crumbling buildings on Ellis Island will get repair funds as part of the federal Economic Recovery Plan, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.
The Ellis Island Baggage and Dormitory Building, a 120,000 square-foot structure built in 1908 to accommodate sick immigrants before a full hospital was built on the south side of the island, has long been exposed to the elements with broken windows, crumbling brick and rusted fixtures. Facing Manhattan, it is attached to the north side of the island’s main building and sits next to the wall of immigrants’ names.
See the map at Save Ellis Island for the building’s location.
The $26 million in federal funds for Ellis Island will also pay to repair 2,000 linear feet of the island’s 6,500 linear-foot seawall, Darren Boch, a National Park Service spokesman, told NewYorkology.
 Schematics have already been drawn up for Baggage and Dormitory Building stabilization, which will include hazardous waste removal, installation of a new roof and extensive masonry repair, Boch said. Although the project is considered shovel-ready, specs and construction drawings will need to be drawn up before the work goes out to bid. Still, work should begin in less than a year, Boch said.
“Probably at the end of this, we’d have some limited tours,” he said.
Although the main portion of Ellis Island has been open to the public as an immigration museum since 1976, many of the buildings remain off limits, including the extensive hospital on the south side. The most recent building to open to the public — in April 2008 — was the “new” ferry building. Nearly 30 other buildings are in different stages of repair, with the nonprofit Save Ellis Island in the process of raising funds to advance the work.
Free, hard-hat tours of the abandoned buildings have been offered annually as part of Open House NY.
NewYorkology has an extensive photo collection from inside and around the abandoned buildings:
Inside Ellis Island’s restoration; next up: laundry - Feb. 2008
Work advancing on Ellis Island reconstruction - Jan. 2008
Abandoned Ellis Island rooms to open for tours - March 2007
Ellis Island to open historic ferry building in winter - Sept. 2006
Exploring secret Ellis Island during Open House NY - Oct. 2005
Picture credits: Ellis Island Baggage and Dormitory Building in January 2008. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
April 22, 2009 4:21 PM in Architecture, History, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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