Another week, another installment in our continuing obsession with abandoned spaces! Thanks to a post on Gawker, we came across the work of photographer Richard Nickel Jr., who recently visited North Brother Island — which is situated in between the Bronx and Rikers Island in the East River and once housed a quarantine hospital that was home to Typhoid Mary — and documented the experience in a beautiful photo essay. Click through for some of the highlights.
“The gantry crane at the ferry slip which would transport patients and staff to its sister slip in Port Morris.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“An access road leads between the morgue to the right, and the physical plant and coal house to the left.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The refrigeration room in the morgue. Individual cabinets for corpses were not used in this morgue. Mary Mallon — widely known as Typhoid Mary — worked in the pathology lab in the same building during her second confinement on the island.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The exam table in the morgue. Note that this was not the autopsy table, which would have been a single-piece lipped table with sluices for the blood to drain. Sadly, this artifact was removed from the island in late 2008.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Lightning struck the larger smokestack in the 1990s, obliterating several feet of heavy bricks. Here, a number of these bricks have destroyed the roof of the morgue/pathology building.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A view of the physical plant (left) and coal house (right) from the roof of the morgue. In the distance, the maintenance building and the top of the nurses’ residence are visible.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The interior of the coal house, facing east.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A 1,000 lb scale in between the coal house and physical plant, presumably used to weigh coal.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The main building of the physical plant in winter.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A west-facing view of the interior of the physical plant; at the end are the southernmost boilers.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The northernmost boilers, two stories tall.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The western facade of the doctors’ cottage, the interior of which is largely collapsed. The utilitarian municipal architecture has some nice flourishes, such as the third-floor dormers and Romanesque entryway.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Second floor of the doctors’ cottage, looking south into the collapsed western wing of the building.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A remarkably undisturbed room on the third floor of the southern wing of the building.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Although the wall of this bathroom floor has fallen away, the tub is still securely in place.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The nurses’ residence after a snowfall. Construction on this building was finished around 1904.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Main stairwell inside the western (middle) wing of the U-shaped nurses’ building.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A typical two-room dorm inside the nurses’ residence. One half provided sleeping quarters for 1 or 2 nurses, and the other half was a lounge area, with a private sink.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A sink and shelving unit which was a standard fixture in each quarters.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Each quarters has a knocker with a nameplate and room designation. This is room 212 in the north wing.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The courtyard in the middle of the residence, with a wraparound porch.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“An iron spiral staircase on the eastern tip of the southern wing. This room was originally a screened-in porch.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A raptor found dessicated in one of the dormitories. North Brother Island has few food sources for land animals, but maintains a diverse population of birds.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A room at the western tip of the southern wing contains an exam table.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“A former childrens’ ward was converted to a library when Riverside became a rehabilitation hospital.”
“The maintenance building contains general odds and ends; here, some keys sit next to a chemical stalagmite.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“Before abandonment of the island, the altarpiece from the chapel was removed to the maintenance building, where it still sits on a table.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The second chapel, made of wood, has almost completely collapsed; all that remains standing is the wall and entryway to the west.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The front of the 1941 tuberculosis pavilion.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“An x-ray room within the first floor medical wing of the pavilion. To the right is the control room. The tiles here have fallen away to reveal walls lined with integral lead blocks.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“An airy dayroom at the end of the south wing speaks to the pavilion’s original purpose as a ward for TB patients.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The deadbolts were retrofitted when the hospital was repurposed as a rehabilitation facility. This seclusion room door has two locks to ensure that even the strongest patient cannot escape, and is reinforced with sheet metal.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The interior of a seclusion room. A heavy mesh screen, added after the initial construction, protects the windows from the withdrawing patient. A window provides a view into the room from the nurses’ station, so that the patient is visible at all times during their withdrawal.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“On one of the murals, a patient has written a vulgar poem expressing his feelings about the institution.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.
“The gymnasium, built in the hopes that athleticism could help overcome addiction.” Photo credit: Richard Nickel Jr.