Greenpoint Nurses' Residence: Inside Brooklyn's Abandoned Quarters

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1940s Greenpoint Hospital Campus Tax Photo There is a certain kind of quiet that only abandoned buildings have. Not peaceful, quiet. More like held-breath quiet. The kind that makes you hyper-aware of every footstep, every creak, every shadow shifting at the edge of your vision. I found that quiet on a cloudy afternoon in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, standing outside a chain-link fence and looking up at the old Nurse Quarters of Greenpoint Hospital. I had stumbled onto the building almost by accident. I was deep into researching other vacant structures across the borough when the Nurses' Residence turned up on the blogs. The fact that it sat close to home made the decision easy. One overcast day, I drove slowly down the block on a hunch, scanning the fence line. That is when I spotted it: a gap, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. No rope. No gear. Just an opening and a window of time between passing cars and foot traffic. I slipped inside. The entrance foyer stopped me cold...
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Rockland State Hospital (2017 Visit) Part #2



My second visit to the institution I had already known beforehand that someone had torched certain sections of the children's ward. I saw all the fire damage in person to my dismay. I would never understand why someone would either torch a place for no reason at all or play around with fire inside old buildings to create that "shot". However, nefarious the reason I came back with my good friend A.

I found my way inside the famous bowling alley so many others have come to see. I also gained access to the main auditorium which was completely spotless from any graffiti or mounds of garbage. On the other hand, things became a lot worst inside the small auditorium inside the children's ward if you look back at my visit in 2016. It was inside here that we met other explorers taking in the ward. My friend A collaborated expeditiously into a portrait session and we were on our way less we get caught with the newcomers. Local police are known to patrol the campus frequently.

In summary, the campus remained quite opened and I had seen all that was to be explored within the sprawling center.







The Bowling Alley Room



Upper-Level Seating

Projector Room

Front Stage of Main Auditorium


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