Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Measles Ward G, New York Harbor, New York, New York County, NY

Significance: Measles Ward G, constructed in 1907, is one of 11 individual treatment wards in the contagious disease hospital complex on Island 3. The building was one of eight wards designated as measles treatment buildings; these buildings also housed patients with scarlet fever, diphtheria, pneumonia and whooping cough. Upon completion of the contagious disease hospital in 1909, Ward G was re-designated Building 5, and after 1919, the building was renamed Wards 11 (first floor) & 12 (second floor). Like the other seven measles wards in the contagious disease complex, Ward G was built from a single, standardized design and arranged in a pavilion plan - a wing and corridor form popular for hospitals since the nineteenth century. The pavilion plan isolated contagious patients from those in the main hospital and also helped prevent the spread of disease among patients with other infectious illnesses. Ward G is a two-story building featuring pebble and dash (large aggregate) stucco exterior cladding, brick quoins, a brick water table on a dressed granite block base, and a hipped and gabled clay tile roof that reference the Georgian Revival style. Ward G's architectural styling, along with its materials and finishes, integrates it with the other buildings within the contagious disease hospital complex to form a cohesive design unit. Ward G and its sister wards are the largest and most significant group of buildings within the contagious disease hospital complex, and a defining characteristic of its pavilion plan form.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1579
Survey number: HABS NY-6086-L
Building/structure dates: 1907 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1936 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000058