Past and Present: The Brooklyn Home for Consumptives

A look at Brooklyn, then and now.

The communities that are now Crown Heights and Stuyvesant Heights saw most of their development take place in the last twenty years of the 19th century, on into the first decades of the 20th. This development was greatly aided by the advances in public transportation, as the roads, trains, trolleys, and later elevated trains opened up the eastern end of Central Brooklyn to development. Because there was so much relatively inexpensive land available, these areas became home to many large charitable facilities, including orphan asylums, old age homes and hospitals. There were hospitals and convalescent homes for all kinds of diseases and ailments, run by private charities and/or religious groups. Never again would there be so many health facilities in these communities. One of these was the Brooklyn Home for Consumptives.

The Home began as the Garfield Memorial Home, located at 219 Raymond Street, in Fort Greene. It opened in 1881 with a mission to care and shelter indigent sufferers of tuberculosis and other chronic lung ailments. In 1882, they changed their name to the Brooklyn Home for Consumptives, and in 1887, moved into this large hospital building at Kingston Avenue, on the corner of St. John’s Place, designed by Rudolph Daus, one of Brooklyn’s better architects, and the architect of the 13th Regiment Armory, on Sumner Avenue in Bedford, among many things.

The Home was a charity, and depended on its board of wealthy patrons for its funding. They provided long term and short term care to patients with tuberculosis, a rather common disease among the poor at that time, as well as other lung ailments. In 1890, the Home’s patrons had to go to court to get exempted for some estate taxes, and in their testimony, they explained that his was an almshouse, supported by donations, and that they also buried patients who died there, at their own expense.

Although they occasionally treated children, on a short term basis, the home was basically for adults. In 1908, the entire medical staff of the home, including all of the doctors, as well as the superintendent and her assistant, resigned in protest over the treatment of several children brought to them for care. The staff had treated the kids, found them to be free of TB, and discharged them, saying that they didn’t want to take a change of having the children infected by other patients. This did not go over well with Mrs. Hopkins, the President of the Board of Managers, whose family had financially supported the Home since its inception. She began second guessing all of their medical decisions, to the point that the doctors all rose up and resigned. Their resignations were accepted.

A listing in a Brooklyn directory of charities, published in 1916, mentions that the Home had 113 beds, was non-sectarian, took patients of all ages, and also accepted Negroes. 1916 was an interesting year for the Home. More room was needed, and architect Frank Freeman was hired to design a new wing, which faced onto Kingston Avenue. That year, the Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide also issued a report on the development of the St. Marks District, of which this was a part.

They said that development in the area was being held up by the presence of the hospital, which was not seen as an asset, as they catered to indigents. The St. Marks District was one of the wealthiest parts of Brooklyn at the time, with multi-million dollar mansions only blocks away. Development found a way to deal with it, because the area was developed, and the hospital stayed.

In 1938, it was renamed again, this time becoming the Brooklyn Thoracic Hospital. It was no longer a convalescent home, but a specialized hospital. In 1955, the Brooklyn Thoracic Hospital closed its doors for good, and the following year, finalized its merge with Brooklyn Hospital. All of the doctors and staff were hired for the new wards, and in 1959, a new pavilion was built for thoracic care. They remain there today.

I don’t know when the hospital was torn down. In 1982, a large “L” shaped apartment building was built on the site, and has been senior citizen housing for as many years, built by the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights. In 2006, the building was totally renovated inside, the apartments improved, and the building given a facelift on the exterior. Today it is the David Chavis Apartments, and is a well-kept facility, with 152 apartments for seniors in assisted living. GMAP