rueeeenz.

for you, john.

When we last left the haunting Gothic ruin of the old Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island, it was more ruined than ever.

While the abandoned, roofless, 153-year-old building was awaiting structural stabilization in late 2007, a large section of its north facade collapsed spontaneously, apparently the victim of moisture-filled interior walls expanding and contracting through endless cycles of freezing and thawing.

Preservationists were especially dismayed, having long urged that some measures be taken to protect the structure, which was designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (nytimes)