Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.)

Identity area

Type of entity

Corporate body

Authorized form of name

Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.)

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

        Identifiers for corporate bodies

        Description area

        Dates of existence

        1929-1987

        History

        Doctors Hospital was a voluntary hospital on the Upper East Side of New York City which catered to affluent private patients. It was located at 170 East End Avenue between 87th and 88th Streets, overlooking Carl Schurz Park and Gracie Mansion.

        The hospital was founded in the late 1920s by a group of socially prominent doctors and investors to meet the growing demand for private hospital rooms. Hospitals, by this time, had replaced the home as the primary site of medical treatment for patients of all social classes, but New York City's hospitals had a limited supply of rooms for affluent patients who did not want to be housed on public wards.

        The cornerstone of the hospital building was laid on April 30, 1929, and the hospital opened to patients on February 19, 1930. On its opening, the fourteen-story building contained 264 private rooms, with an additional 32 hotel-like rooms in which patients' relatives could stay during treatment. It had no wards. Nicknamed the “hotel hospital" for its lavish interiors, its rooms were decorated in an early American style and included conveniences such as private iceboxes, which aimed at replicating the comforts of home for its wealthy patients. The founding medical staff of the hospital consisted of 182 doctors and surgeons.

        The hospital was founded as a for-profit corporation and was expected to yield a return for its shareholders. In 1932, however, the shares of the hospital were turned over to a charitable foundation and the hospital was reorganized as a voluntary institution. Many believed this decision to have been motivated primarily by tax purposes. In 1941 the city brought a suit against the hospital for payment of back taxes, arguing that because it catered to private patients and did not offer charity care, it was not entitled to the hospital property tax exemption. The State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city, but the ruling was overturned by the Appellate Division in 1944, which held that the exemption applied equally to all voluntary hospitals regardless of their patient demographics. Throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century the hospital continued to serve New York's social elite as a place for medical treatment in a genteel private setting.

        Places

        Legal status

        Functions, occupations and activities

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        Internal structures/genealogy

        General context

        Relationships area

        Related entity

        Beth Israel Medical Center (New York, N.Y.). Singer Division (1987-2004)

        Identifier of related entity

        NA2349

        Category of relationship

        temporal

        Type of relationship

        Beth Israel Medical Center (New York, N.Y.). Singer Division is the successor of Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.)

        Dates of relationship

        Description of relationship

        Beth Israel Medical Center acquired Doctors Hospital in 1987. It first renamed the location to Beth Israel North, then the Singer Division.

        Related entity

        Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.). Board of Directors (1929-1987)

        Identifier of related entity

        NA0134

        Category of relationship

        hierarchical

        Type of relationship

        Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.). Board of Directors is controlled by Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.)

        Dates of relationship

        Description of relationship

        Access points area

        Subject access points

        Place access points

        Occupations

        Control area

        Authority record identifier

        NA0133

        Institution identifier

        Rules and/or conventions used

        Local

        Status

        Final

        Level of detail

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

        Language(s)

          Script(s)

            Sources

            “The Doctors' Hospital," New York Times, May 4, 1929; “Doctors' Hospital Keeps Cures Hidden," New York Times, February 10, 1930; “Doctors Hospital Receives Patients," New York Times, February 20, 1930; “Doctors Hospital Loses Suit on Tax," New York Times, November 28, 1941; “Doctors Hospital Wins Tax-Exemption Plan," New York Times, May 13, 1944; “These Days, You Have to Be Ill to Get Into Doctors Hospital," New York Times, December 27, 1970.

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