Featured in David Henry Thoreau’s “Letters from Staten Island,” this building was constructed between 1834-1853 by Abraham P Maybe. The Seaman’s Retreat was the only hospital of the port of New York that solely took care of merchant seaman.

Unfortunately, the building is actually not up and running. The owners of this property are doing the infamous “demolition by neglect” act where they purposely neglect the maintenance of a property to allow the building to deteriorate on its own so that they can build something more modern in its place without breaking the law. Why would demolishing one of these buildings be breaking the law you may ask? Because of the National Preservation Act of 1966.

The Seaman’s Retreat is protected by the National Preservation Act of 1966 which indicates that certain landmarks cannot be teared down or remodeled to an extent. The owners of this building stuck with the burden of not being able to tear it down chose instead to let it fall down on its own due to neglect.

 

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