Association Residence Nursing Home facts for kids
|
Association Residence Nursing Home
|
|
View from the northwest
|
|
| Location | 891 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan, New York |
|---|---|
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1881 |
| Architect | Richard Morris Hunt |
| NRHP reference No. | 75001201 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
|
| Added to NRHP | February 20, 1975 |
The Association Residence Nursing Home is a historic building in New York City. It was built between 1881 and 1883. The famous architect Richard Morris Hunt designed it in the Victorian Gothic style.
You can find this building on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. It is located between 103rd and 104th Streets on the Upper West Side. Today, it is a youth hostel run by Hostelling International.
The group that built it, called the "Association for the Relief of Respectable, Aged and Indigent Females," started in 1814. They helped widows of soldiers from the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. An addition was built in 1907. It had seven special Tiffany windows. These windows are now at the Morse Museum of American Art. The building became a protected site on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Contents
Helping Those in Need
On February 14, 1814, a group called the Society for the Relief of Indigent Respectable Females began in New York City. This group raised money from private donations. They gave clothes, small stoves, and food to older women who were poor. Their goal was to "relieve and comfort those aged females, who once enjoyed a good degree of affluence, but now reduced to poverty."
Women ran the Society. Ann Dominick was their first leader in 1814. With help from important people like John Jacob Astor, the Association built a home in 1837-38. It was located at 226 East 20th Street. They added a small hospital in 1845.
In 1881, the Association bought the land on Amsterdam Avenue for $77,500. Building work started that fall. The new location was chosen because an elevated train line was being built nearby. The building was finished in 1883 and cost $100,000. At its opening, The New York Times newspaper said the building offered "comfort, almost amounting to luxury." The Association used this building until at least 1968.
The Architect: Richard Morris Hunt
_pg447_THE_ASSOCIATION_FOR_THE_RELIEF_OFRESPECTABLE,_AGED,_INDIGENT_FEMALES,_AMSTERDAM_AVENUE.jpg)
Richard Morris Hunt was a very important American architect. He was the first American to study at the famous École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. He helped design the expansion of the United States Capitol building. He also designed the base of the Statue of Liberty.
Hunt designed many kinds of buildings. But he is most famous for creating homes for rich families. These included the Astors and Vanderbilts. Many of these grand homes were on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He also designed the huge Biltmore Estate for George Washington Vanderbilt II in North Carolina.
Hunt first drew plans for the Association building in 1868. However, construction did not begin until 1881. In 1881, he was hired again and made new plans based on his old ideas. Sadly, fewer than 20 of the 75 buildings Hunt designed in New York City are still standing today.
From Nursing Home to Hostel
After World War II, the nursing home faced money problems. This was partly because residents were living longer. At one point, there was a plan to tear down the building. This was part of a project to clear old buildings in the Upper West Side.
In the early 1970s, new government funds became available for nursing homes. The Association then planned to replace the old building with a new, modern one. But a group of people who loved history, many from nearby Columbia University, fought to save the building. They made it a community effort.
Even after a fire during the New York City blackout of 1977, the preservationists won. By the late 1970s, the City of New York bought the building. It was declared a New York City Landmark in 1983.
During the 1980s, the building was empty. Then, American Youth Hostels worked with the community and government to fix it up. They opened the hostel in January 1990. With 670 beds, it is now the largest youth hostel in North America.
See also
In Spanish: Association Residence Nursing Home para niños
