French Hospital (Manhattan)

French Hospital of New York, at 330 West 30th Street (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) was a hospital established in 1881 and closed in 1977. The last building it occupied was built in 1928 by the Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance (The French Benevolent Society). It was located in the Chelsea neighborhood. At its opening, it was operated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Its owner, the French Benevolent Society, merged with the Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center in 1969.^[1] The French and Polytechnic Medical School and Health Center closed May 13, 1977 for a lack of funding.^[2]

The building replaced the French Hospital facilities at 450 West 34th Street (erected in 1904), 230 West 34th Street (acquired in 1888), and original French Hospital on West 14th Street (built in 1881) – then the city’s French section.^[3] The hospital closed in the 1960s and in 1981 became residential rentals under Section 8.

The New York City French Hospital was founded in 1880 by doctors Julio J. Henna, Chauveau, Deberceau, Muvial, and Ferrer. Dr. Henna, who was also a member of the medical faculty at Bellevue Hospital, became medical director of the institution.^[4]

In the novel The Godfather, the protagonist Vito Corleone's gunshot wounds are treated at the French Hospital. ^[5]

George Herman "Babe" Ruth died at the French Hospital on August 16, 1948. A plaque on the front of the apartment complex that now occupies the location commemorates the event.

References

1. Gallic Aura Sought By French Hospital For New Quarters, The New York Times, December 9, 1971
2. Robert D. McFadden, French Hospital Closing on Friday After 96 Years, The New York Times, May 10, 1977
3. French Hospital Buys $450,000 Site for New 15-Story Building in 30th Street, The New York Times, March 6, 1926
4. Lorenzo A. Balasquide. Medicos Notables del Antaño Ponceño. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1984. Page 41.
5. The Godfather, Mario Puzo, Putnam, 1969