The New York Academy of Medicine - 1216 Fifth Avenue

 

photograph by Beyond My Ken

As early as 1809, Valentine Mott was recognized internationally as a skilled surgeon.  The doctor successfully performed surgeries that were previously considered impossible.  (The fact that Mott was ambidextrous and could operate with either hand no doubt contributed to his success.)  

On December 8, 1846, Mott and two other influential physicians, Alexander H. Stevens and Isaac Wood, invited the city doctors to a meeting at the Lyceum of Natural History on December 11.  Its goal was to form an association that would, among other objects, according to The New York Times later, "to furnish a meeting place for physicians where they could freely exchange opinions and compare experiences, so the most advanced ideas of medical men and scientists could get currency and criticism."

The result was the New York Academy of Medicine, founded the following month, on January 6, 1847.  The New York Academy of Medicine initially focused on improving public health, like lobbying for better conditions within the tenement districts.  In 1866, it was influential in the forming of the Metropolitan Board of Health, the precursor of today's Department of Health.

The Academy moved into this structure in 1890.  King's Photographic Views of New York City, 1893 (copyright expired)

By the World War I years, the New York Academy of Medicine had outgrown its headquarters on West 43rd Street.  The association temporarily rented additional space on West 44th Street, directly behind the existing structure.

In 1925, the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street was acquired and the architectural firm of York & Sawyer commissioned to design a commodious new home for the Academy.  At a time when architectural tastes were moving toward streamlined Art Deco designs, York & Sawyer looked to 11th century Lombardy structures for its inspiration.  

On reporting on the cornerstone laying on October 31, 1925, The New York Times remarked that the cost of the building had been provided by "the half-million dollars and more which the Academy has raised among its own members and friends, the Carnegie Corporation [which] has given $1,550,000 for the new building, and the Rockefeller Foundation $1,250,000 for the endowment of the Academy in order that it may enter upon new activities, including the service of a full-time director, the development of the library service and the maintenance of a bureau of clinical service."

The New York Academy of Medicine building was dedicated on November 18, 1926.  York & Sawyer's overall Lombardian Romanesque design was splashed with elements of Byzantine.  Clad in limestone and sandstone, its tripartite design of the main section included balconies at the third floor.  The bronze-doored entrance sat within an arch of clustered engaged columns, its tympanum filled with bas reliefs of Hygieia, goddess of health, and Asclepius, god of medicine.  The dog figures atop the outermost columns symbolize protection from death and illness, according to the Medical Journal and Record on December 1, 1926.

The Latin inscription above the doorway is one of several inscribed on the facade by Classical authors like Hippocrates, Juvenal, Cicero, Seneca the Younger and Virgil.  photograph by Beyond My Ken

The midsection, above a stone bandcourse, was distinguished by large arched openings at the third floor.  These allowed natural light into the library.  It and the two accompanying reading rooms, accommodated 180 persons.  The Academy's president, Dr. Samuel A. Brown, said, "the academy library occupies the same position regarding medical literature that the Public Library occupies in general literature."  The New York Times added, "It is also rich in rare works on the history of medicine, collections of paintings, documents, surgical instruments and models of original instruments which are of great value."

The openings of the single-story top section sat within handsome arcades on both elevations, and an arched corbel table ran below the cornice.  A three-story wing at the east of the main building included the auditorium and the library offices.

photograph by Wurts Bros., 1926, from the collection of the New York Public Library.

As the building neared completion, on October 10, 1926, The New York Times said, "Chief among the reasons for the present change are the needs of the library, which has grown from small beginnings into the third greatest medical library in the world."  The library held more than 143,000 books and more than 100,000 pamphlets.  "Proper housing of this material was one of the reasons for the erection of new quarters."

The other floors held "offices, lecture halls and headquarters of medical societies," according to The New York Times.  York & Sawyer had designed the structure, according to the article, so that "additional floors may be added, when needed."  That feature would prove useful in coming decades.

Lectures and addresses--some controversial--were a mainstay in the building.  One of the first was the address by Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who spoke on "The Physician: the Larger View."  He predicted, "There will be a revolution in medical education, I feel quite certain."  But his envision may have raised a few medical eyebrows in the audience.  Saying that many persons "had become interested in mysticism, orientalism and various forms of faith cure," he suggested these fields would become part of mainstream medical science.

On March 1, 1927, the Academy staged the first exhibition in the country of artworks done by physicians.  The more than 575 works, including sculptures, wood carvings, etchings, and oil and watercolor paintings, were done by 75 doctors, some of whom were well-known in their fields.  Five days later, The New York Times reported that the Physicians' Art Exhibition, planned for two weeks, had already been extended because of public interest.

Complex carved limestone capitals incorporated Medieval faces and varieties of floral species.  photograph by Nylandmarks

The library was augmented in May 1928 by the acquisition of Dr. E. C. Streeter's personal library.  He had amassed the collection, which contained some of the earliest printed works on medicine, over two decades.  Among the rare books, 130 were printed prior to 1501.  The Academy paid $185,000 for the library--about $3.3 million in 2025.  Providing the funds was a collaborative effort.  Individual millionaires like Harry P. Whitney, Clarence A. Mackay, Edward S. Harness, Jeremiah Milbank, and Harry H. Flagler, for instance, contributed.  Fellows of the Academy provided $10,000 and the Rockefeller Foundation donated $85,000.

A two-week study of aging was conducted here beginning in August 1928.  The New York Times reported, "For the first time in the history of medical education in this country, a single subject--the problem of aging and old age--is to be the centre of interest for several thousand physicians who will attend a 'graduate fortnight.'"

One outcome of the sessions was a paper, "Alcohol and Old Age," by Dr. Samuel W. Lambert, President of the New York Academy of Medicine.  Read at a symposium on the problem of aging and old age on October 4 (during the height of Prohibition), it touted the, "beneficial effect of alcohol in old age, as well as the good to be derived from its use by man even before senescence," reported by The New York Times.  As well as urging the moderate use of whisky, wine and beer "as a great value to the aged," Lambert "attacked the Federal restrictions on the prescription of alcohol."

The issues addressed by the Academy, naturally, reflected the social and environmental changes.   Dr. Alvan L. Barach spoke at the Academy on May 14, 1964, for instance, about the city's air pollution.  "Sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid, he said, were 'the main hazard in air pollution,'" reported The Times.

photograph by Ajay Suresh

The New York Academy of Medicine continues to advocate for public health reform.  Its striking 1926 building has become a major center for health education.  The group's membership of more than 3,000 fellows now includes not only physicians, but nurses, health care administrators and other health professionals.