BY FRANK GUNTHER | PHOTOS BY CHRIS COOPER
In 1964, Albert Ledner, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright,
completed his largest and most high-profi le collabora-
tion with the National Maritime Union — the Joseph
Curran Building in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. It
was key to creating a modern image for the union.
The building was bold in its ship-like design, in its
deference to circular forms (importantly illustrating
fairness and equality) and in its stark contrast with the
more historic architecture that typifi es the area. Its con-
crete walls appear to fl oat above curved glass blocks and
scalloped portals that enclose increasingly cantilevered
upper fl oors.
The Joseph Curran Building was eventually sold
and renamed the Edward & Theresa O'Toole Medical
Services building. It was transformed on the inside into
a maze of outpatient clinics and medical of ce spaces
with low headroom, bearing no resemblance to the
original expansive hiring hall with soaring, double-
height ceilings. When the facility closed, it left the
neighborhood without even these medical services.
Repurposing for modern-day medicine
In 2010 North Shore-LIJ Health System approached
Perkins Eastman to design a freestanding emergency
Exam Room: Perkins Eastman/Sarah Mechling
Lenox Hill HealthPlex's
freestanding ED
features an enlarged
ambulance bay with one
position for a 24-hour
standby ambulance to
transfer high-acuity
patients to a full-service
hospital.
With generous yet
diffuse light admitted
from the glass block
walls, the waiting rooms,
which fl ank the main
entrance, subtly evoke
the building's initial
ties to the maritime
through water and sea
references and recall
Ledner's prominent use
of the circular form.
Historic building becomes Manhattan's 1st freestanding ED
LENOX HILL HEALTHPLEX
MCDM AG.COM | M A RCH /A PR IL 2015 | Medical Construction & Design
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