"Negative Space" Prints Now Available

Some of the images displayed at the opening of Negative Space in May.


Following a successful gallery run this summer, I am now offering prints from my traveling show, Negative Space, for sale on the Kingston Lounge. In all, 30 limited edition prints, as well as 6 uniquely framed prints from North Brother Island, are currently available, and these as well as other images are available in unlimited editions at 8"x12" for $95. The limited editions are offered at a set size and will never be printed at sizes above 8"x12" again. Each photograph is a signed and numbered archival-quality C-print on Kodak Endura paper. Please email me at kingston.lounge@gmail.com if interested in purchasing one.


20"x30" Prints


Patient bed in fire-damaged ward
Buffalo State Hospital, Buffalo, NY 2008
Edition of 5



Hospital room with private bathroom
Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital, Brooklyn, NY 2009
Edition of 5



Chair in patient bedroom, shot by moonlight
Taunton State Hospital, Taunton, MA 2006
Edition of 5



View through window in door of seclusion room
Middletown State Hospital, Middletown, NY 2007
Edition of 5



16"x24" Prints


Peeling paint in fire-damaged ward
Buffalo State Hospital, Buffalo, NY 2008
Edition of 10



Overgrown security window in patient bedroom
Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, GA 2008
Edition of 10



Attic of administrative wing of Babcock Building
South Carolina State Hospital, Columbia, SC 2008
Edition of 10



Ice stalagmites under clinic building
Greystone Park State Hospital, Morris Plains, NJ 2007
Edition of 10



Easy chairs and patient art
Creedmoor State Hospital, Queens, NY 2008
Edition of 10



Patient bowling alley
Rockland State Hospital, Orangeburg, NY 2007
Edition of 10



View from mezzanine level
Loew's Kings Wonder Theatre, Brooklyn, NY 2010
Edition of 10



Mezzanine aisle leading to lobby
Loew's Kings Wonder Theatre, Brooklyn, NY 2010
Edition of 10



Lounge area
Hotel Columbia, Sharon Springs, NY 2010
Edition of 10



Grand stairwell
Empire Hotel, Sharon Springs, NY 2010
Edition of 10



Tea room
Hotel Adler, Sharon Springs, NY 2010
Edition of 10



Blue door
Central State Hospital, Milledgevile, GA 2008
Edition of 10



Sink in collapsing bathroom
Central State Hospital, Milledgevile, GA 2008
Edition of 10



Patient dormitory in main building during winter
Greystone Park State Hospital, Morris Plains, NJ 2009
Edition of 10



Morgue
Quarantine Hospital, Ellis Island, NY 2008
Edition of 10



Statue of Liberty as seen from measles ward
Quarantine Hospital, Ellis Island, NY 2008
Edition of 10



12"x18" Prints


Top of grand stairwell at first light
Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital, Brooklyn, NY 2008
Edition of 20



Patient dormitory at sundown
Buffalo State Hospital, Buffalo, NY 2008
Edition of 15



Connector hallway between ward pavilions
Buffalo State Hospital, Buffalo, NY 2008
Edition of 15



Arch in main building
Greystone Park State Hospital, Morris Plains, NJ 2009
Edition of 15



Corridor in ward for violent patients
Greystone Park State Hospital, Morris Plains, NJ 2009
Edition of 15



Dormitory in asylum for women
Pavilion building, Hart Island, NY 2008
Edition of 15



Southern staircase
Admirals' Row, Quarters B, Brooklyn, NY 2008
Edition of 15



View of hallway and patient bathroom
Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, GA 2008
Edition of 15



Cast iron staircase
Buffalo State Hospital, Buffalo, NY 2008
Edition of 15



Patient bedroom with red curtain
Athens State Hospital, Athens, OH 2008
Edition of 15



North Brother Island Prints


Prints from North Brother Island in unique artifact frames.


In 2008 I salvaged six oxidized copper X-ray holders dating to the late 1930s from the tuberculosis pavilion on North Brother Island. These unique artifacts, utilized in the operatory and exam areas of the hospital, were transformed by an expert woodworker into shadowbox frames designed to hold 11"x14" prints. The frames and prints contained within are museum quality, and completely archival. UV-protective plexiglass is used as glazing for the pieces, and the wood of the frames is lined with aluminum tape, preventing any acid leakage. The prints are archival C-prints on Kodak Endura paper, hinge-mounted with gummed linen tape onto acid-free foamcore. An acid-free white mat finishes the piece, and each frame is backed with acid-free paper and galvanized hardware. Six images from the island were chosen to fill the frames, and each is being offered as a one-of-a-kind piece.



Front facade, tuberculosis pavilion 2008
Available



Spiral staircase, nurses' residence 2008
Sold



Scale between coal house and physical plant 2009
Sold



Two-story boilers in physical plant 2010
Available



Hallway in services building 2010
Available



Basketball court in services building 2010
Available

Inquiries can be made by sending me an email at kingston.lounge@gmail.com.

The Hotel Columbia, Sharon Springs, NY

The first floor lounge of the Hotel Columbia.

A short walk from the Hotel Adler, its sister building in Sharon Springs, NY, stands the Hotel Columbia. Like the Adler, the Columbia primarily catered to New York City's Jewish population following the second World War. After the decline of the Borscht Belt region, much of the town catered in particular to Orthadox and Hasidic Jews; the Columbia was one of several hotels that did so, adapting all kitchen facilities to follow Kosher law, and removing the televisions from the establishment.

Unlike the Adler, the Columbia was primarily a long-term hotel; rooms were rented by the week (at an average of $140 per in 1977). Except for the tiny economy rooms on the top floor, every room came with a kitchen across the hall; guests of the hotel would be given keys to both. There was some light evening entertainment offered at the Columbia; noted Ukrainian dance musician Michael Skorr performed there for 18 consecutive summers. However, many guests would opt to head over to the Adler for the more elaborate comedy shows and vaudeville acts featured over there. Like the Adler, the Columbia shuttered its doors after the 2004 season; its fate remains in the air.


The main lobby & check-in area.


A typically narrow hallway within the building.


A standard two-bed room. The kitchen which accompanied this room is located across the hallway.


Each kitchen had two sink basins - one for meat and one for dairy, in keeping with Kosher law.


A detail of one of the kitchens.


The third story landing.


The end of one wing of the Columbia is sustaining significant water damage; a carpet of moss has grown in this third floor room.


The water damage has caused a partial ceiling collapse in this second-floor room, revealing rotting joists.


Like the Adler, many rooms in the Columbia had tacky wallpaper that must have looked dated by the 1970s, even though the hotel ran for decades after.


Most bathrooms did not include bathing facilities; there were communal baths in the center wing of the hotel.


Plenty of artifacts, like these blankets, remain, slowly moldering in this beautiful old building.

Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, GA

View of a hallway and into a bathroom in the Walker Building, Central State Hospital.

Central State Hospital, formerly known as the Georgia Lunatic Asylum, the State Asylum for the Insane, and the Georgia State Sanitarium, is the oldest and largest psychiatric facility in the state. Located on a sprawling 1,750 acre campus in Milledgeville, GA, which was at the time the state capitol, the Asylum admitted its first patient in 1842. Patient population exploded rapidly, and by the 1870s overcrowding was an issue; new buildings and additions to existing buildings were rapidly constructed to deal with the ballooning need for beds. This trend continued through the 1960s, when Central briefly contended with New York's Pilgrim for the title of largest psychiatric facility in the world.

In 1884, the Walker Building was constructed for the reception of white male convalescent patients. Unlike the state-run public health facilities in the North, segregation was common in Southern asylums; at Milledgeville, the practice continued until at least the 1940s. The extent of segregation from state to state varied wildly, as did the degree of difference in quality of treatment. At some asylums and sanitoriums, white patients received treatment in airy dayrooms of sturdy buildings, whilst black patients were crowded into poorly insulated tents. Central State Hospital was somewhat more forward in its thinking; the first building for "coloured" patients was erected in 1866, albeit far from central Powell administration building. This evolved into a distinct campus of buildings for black patients. Somewhat more stark and institutional than the more ornate buildings for white patients, the remaining structures constructed for African Americans have now been repurposed as a prison.

The more ornate Walker Building, on the other hand, was abandoned around 1974, and over thirty years of disuse have not been kind to it. The heat and humidity of central Georgia have taken their toll; much of the third floor lacks a ceiling, and the walls are a tapestry of peeling paint, algae, mold, and disintegrating plaster. Foliage has grown over large portions of the building, and invaded the interior spaces. Insects and small mammals have made their homes here, as has a large coyote. Yet through all this, some aspects of grandeur remain in this venerable building, used for almost a century.


The roof gone, vines have begun to overtake this third-floor bathroom.


Third floor hallway, the roof long rotted away.


A typical patient room, with a viewing window to allow orderlies to look in on patients.


A curtain still hangs in a dark patient bedroom.


The lack of a roof creates interesting interplays of light at various times of day.


Although in somewhat better condition than the top floor, water damage and humidity have wrecked havoc on the floors below as well.


Among the few artifacts left in the building, this cabinet still contains the last patients' toothbrushes, each labeled with a surname.


Plaster has collapsed into a sink in a tiny corner bathroom.


In the violent ward hallway at the Southern end of the building, the doors were outfitted with spinning platforms that could be used to provide food to patients without opening the door.


A closeup of one such platform. A deadbolt separate from the one locking the door would keep the platform from rotating when not in use.


As the sun sets, the reflection of light off the red brick building colors the walls facing the courtyards.


A typical scene as the sun hangs low over the Walker building.


A large corner room near sundown.


Foliage is overtaking the building; here, an intact window provides a climbing point for vines which are beginning to slip into the building through the cracks.

Fort Totten Army Hospital

Sadly, very little information is widely available on this hospital building within the Fort Totten landmark district near Bayside, Queens. Built in 1864, the year in which the primary purpose of the Fort shifted from defense of the mouth of the East River to casualty support and hospital care, the facility served the Army in various capacities until 1974, when it was emptied and abandoned. Sometime before 1920 a cafeteria annex was added to the rear of the structure; at some point prior to abandonment, the hospital appears to have been repurposed for office and administrative use, and the basement for storage.

Unfortunately, the building has fallen prey to some fairly signicant demolition-by-neglect. There is considerable water damage which has led much of the building to collapse; the parts that have not collapsed are in imminent danger, as evidenced by the mushy floors and the separation of some rooms’ floors from the load-bearing walls.

Here’s a look at the interior of the hospital. Readers with more knowledge of its history or with stories about its active use are heartily encouraged to comment below.


An operating room, the floor half-gone.


Retrofitted fluorescent lights hang akimbo from a damaged tin ceiling.


A dormitory, one of the few rooms in the building which gives a hint of the original purpose as a hospital. This room would have been lined with beds & side tables, and the outlets spaced along the walls would have provided power.


A large room on the second floor contained what was by far the most bizarre artifact found within the hospital – a child’s riding grasshopper.




Although the floor in this bathroom is completely gone, the plumbing is enough to hold these heavy porcelain sinks in place over the abyss.


The basement is full of military documents. This one-pager explains how to zero a .50 caliber machine gun.


”Battlefield Damage Assessment and Repair for Combat Vehicles”


Surprisingly, the attic was among the most intact sections of the hospital.


A typical attic room showing water damage.


The other side of the door to this room bore the name of a military officer in fading paint.


On the interior side of the door, one of the few artifacts remaining in this building – a fading photo of an Army marching band.

Taken in conjunction with the Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass.

Happy Birthday!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the first post on this blog, and what a year it has been! I'd like to thank you, my readers. It is truly gratifying to have received tens of thousands of hits over the last year. At this point in time, the Lounge averages hundreds of hits a day, and many of these are repeat visitors.

I endeavor to capture the structures presented in this blog as best I can in order to create a permanent record of their existence, and their grandeur. Many will not be around in a decade's time. They sure don't make 'em like they used to; that buildings like these are left to rot really makes a statement about our collective myopia. The motto of this blog, a quote from my ideological father, really rings true here: "Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water, and stupid men."

In the year to come, I hope to have the time to update more regularly. I certainly have much to share; in the next few months, look for posts on several asylums, North Brother Island, and a whole slew of other historically significant buildings.

Thank you again, my readers. I wouldn't do it without you.

Cheers,
Richard