| Lenox Hill Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Northwell Health | |
 | |
 Park Avenue and East77th Street | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 100East 77th Street,Manhattan,New York City,New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°46′25″N73°57′39″W / 40.7736°N 73.9609°W /40.7736; -73.9609 |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Private |
| Funding | Non-profit hospital |
| Type | Teaching |
| Affiliated university | |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Yes |
| Beds | 450 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1857 |
| Links | |
| Website | northwell |
| Lists | Hospitals in New York State |
| Other links | Hospitals in Manhattan |
Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked, 450-bed,non-profit,tertiary, research and academic medical center located on theUpper East Side ofManhattan inNew York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many university-level academic medical centers. The hospital is owned byNorthwell Health, the largest private employer inthe state of New York. LHH serves as a clinical campus for theZucker School of Medicine, which is owned by the health system in a partnership withHofstra University.[1]
It was founded in 1857 as theGerman Dispensary. It currently consists of ten buildings and has occupied the present site in Manhattan since 1869, when it was known as theGerman Hospital. In 2007, theManhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital was incorporated into Lenox Hill Hospital.
The hospital is located on a city block bounded on the north and south by East77th and76th Streets, and on the west and east byPark Avenue andLexington Avenue.
.jpg)
.jpg)
In 1857, a group of community leaders recognized the need for medical services among the immigrant community and founded the German Dispensary.[2] Physicians, Ernest Krackowizer andAbraham Jacobi, were among the founders. Its purpose, according to the constitution adopted January 19, 1857, was "to give medical advice in their own tongue to inhabitants of New York City who speak the German language, a great many indigent sick persons, ignorant of the English tongue." On May 28, 1857, the dispensary opened at 132 NewCanal Street. The location had been 210 Walker Street before the street's renaming.[3] In 1862, the dispensary moved to larger quarters at 8 East3rd Street.
The German Hospital of the City of New York was incorporated by the New York State Legislature on April 13, 1861, and its first board of directors was organized on February 15, 1862. A plot of ground situated onPark Avenue and 77th Street was leased to the hospital by the city for 50 years at a nominal rent, and it purchased six additional lots on 76th Street. The plan was to erect two pavilions, extending along 77th Street, from Park to Lexington Avenues, with an administration building between them.[4] The corner-stone of the western pavilion was laid on September 3, 1866. Completion was delayed by a shortage of funds, and the hospital opened on September 13, 1869.[5] On March 26, 1866, the state legislature made the German Dispensary a branch of the German Hospital.[6]: 1 [7]: 767
A pavilion for skin diseases opened in 1875, an isolation pavilion in 1880, a women's department in 1882, and a new dispensary in 1884. The new dispensary was located at 137Second Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets. The three-story building was a gift ofAnna Ottendorfer andOswald Ottendorfer, who ran the German-language newspaper,New Yorker Staats-Zeitung.[7][6]
Most of the patients treated at the hospital were from the localLittle Germany neighborhood aroundFirst and Second Avenues below14th Street.
A new wing opened in 1888, and a nurses' home opened in 1893, donated by the Ottendorfer family.[7] A five-story training school for nurses was added in February 1894 at 77th Street and Lexington Avenue, with four young German-American women forming the first class. Until then, nursing attendants and charge nurses had been brought over from Germany.The New York Times noted in an 1899 editorial, "to be a graduate nurse of the German Hospital is a distinction and recommendation for good nursing."[8] A hospital annex, at the corner of 77th Street and Lexington Avenue, also donated by the Ottendorfer family, opened in 1901.[7]
The hospital moved to the 77th Street location entirely in 1905, about the same time that Manhattan's German community was increasingly abandoning Little Germany for theYorkville neighborhood, within walking distance of the new hospital. New York City deeded to the hospital the square block it occupied for $5,000 in 1907. The dispensary building was sold in 1906 to theGerman Polyklinik, founded in 1883 – which later changed its name toStuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital – for $82,000, and a larger dispensary was erected on the northeast corner of 76th Street and Park Avenue, with Ottendorfer's son and daughter providing the balance of the $250,000 cost, in their mother's memory.[7][6][2]
The new dispensary building was opened on March 16, 1907. In 1908, a new isolation pavilion was inaugurated, as well as a pavilion for tuberculosis patients. In 1910, a separate building for intrathoracic surgery was begun on Lexington Avenue, adjoining the German Hospital Training School for Nurses. Ottendorfer's daughter donated $100,000 for the creation of the Abraham Jacobi Division for Children. The capacity of the German Hospital in 1915 was 310 beds.[7]
In July 1918, the German Hospital was renamedLenox Hill Hospital, tying it to theLenox Hill section of theUpper East Side, in an effort todistance the institution from America's enemy inWorld War I. A movement in 1925 to restore the hospital to its former name, to appeal to potential donors of German descent, was eventually rejected by the board of trustees. It was said at the time that about 95 percent of the doctors, nurses, and other employees of the hospital spokeGerman.
The hospital rejected a proposed merger withColumbia University in February 1919.[9]
In April 1931, the hospital completed a new $2.5 million, 11-story building, with a facade made of light brick withlimestone trim, on the 76th Street side of the hospital. The new building replaced two apartment houses and several workshops. In December 1931,Winston Churchill was hospitalized there for treatment of injuries suffered when he was hit by a car after failing to look left when crossingFifth Avenue.[10] The pioneering children's division, founded by Dr. Abraham Jacobi, was housed on the 11th floor, with other patient rooms on the 4th through 9th floors, and operating rooms on the 10th floor. Another two-story building, containing a ward service, lecture hall, and swimming pool, was added next to the main building on the 76th Street side in 1936, at a cost of $150,000.
By 1939, the hospital had annually treated 12,115 patients with bed care, and another 23,099 visited the dispensary for treatment. Adding accident room patients, the hospital treated over 53,000 people in 1939. Because some care was given for free or part-pay, the hospital often ran an operating deficit, just as it did in 1939, when it lost $163,029, down a loss of over $200,000 the previous year, in 1938. The hospital's operating loss grew to $284,692 in 1945, which was then a record high. Due to a lack of funds, an anticipated additional new building was delayed for over 20 years, when the Second Century Development Program, designed to raise $10 million, was led by the hospital's president, James Wickersham.
In 1957, on the hospital's 100th anniversary, it opened a $4.5 million, 12-story building on Park Avenue at 77th Street, with a glass and aluminum facade, and a capacity of 180 patient beds. The new building, named the Wollman Pavilion, also housed a mental health unit, and an entire floor was allocated for research on speech and hearing disorders, epilepsy, and hemophilia. In 1964, the Charles R. Lachman Community Health Center was added on the south side of 77th Street, between the Wollman Pavilion and the William Black Hall of Nursing, which opened in 1962 (the School of Nursing closed in 1973). The hospital opened its largest building, 12 stories tall, in 1976, located at Park Avenue and 76th Street, replacing the Ottendorfer Dispensary, at a cost of $20 million. The modern brick masonry structure, with a fortress-like facade, stood in stark contrast in architectural style of the rest of the hospital's buildings. The new building added 180 patient beds for an overall capacity of 690 beds.
In 1943, the hospital sent a medical unit to England to maintain station hospitals for military personnel. Throughout the remainder ofWorld War II, hospital staff members served in all theaters of war, including with combat forces in the European theater of operations afterD-Day.
In 1998, a jury awarded $49 million in anobstetrics case against the hospital, which was one of the largestmedical malpractice verdicts in New York City history at that time.[11]
The hospital's building underwent masonry and roof restorations, conducted by Merrit Engineering Consultants, P.C., from 2007 to 2009. Façade restoration, waterproofing, and structural steel repairs were also conducted.[12]
On May 19, 2010, the hospital announced that an agreement had been finalized for it to joinNorthwell Health.
In 2014, the old St. Vincent Hospital building that closed in 2010, becameLenox Hill HealthPlex, Manhattan's firstfreestanding emergency department.[13] This facility is located at 30 7th Avenue between West 12th and 13th streets. This emergency department sees patients whether they come as a walk-in or via an ambulance.[13]
In 2015, Lenox Hill HealthPlex was renamedLenox Health Greenwich Village.[14]
In 2020,Netflix released a documentary series,Lenox Hill, which was filmed at the hospital.[15][16] The series was filmed from 2018 to 2019 and followed four practicing doctors at the Manhattan hospital.[16][15]
Since 2019, Northwell Health was considering demolishing the Lenox Hill Hospital block and constructing a 30-story building there, nearly doubling the hospital's space to 1.3 million square feet (120,000 m2).[17] The plan included a 436-foot-tall (133 m) tower.[18][19] Northwell's proposal, particularly the tower, was controversial among neighborhood residents, and a community group was formed to fight the plans.[19] Northwell submitted plans to theNew York City Planning Commission in January 2025.[19][20] That April, the localManhattan Community Board 8 recommended that the city not enact azoning change that would allow the tower to proceed.[21][22] In July 2025, the CPC tentatively approved Northwell Health's plan to spend $2 billion redeveloping the Lenox Hill Hospital site.[18] After Northwell agreed to reduce the tower's height to 370 feet (110 m),[23][24] theNew York City Council approved the scaled-back version of the project that August.[25][26] As part of the plan, the hospital would be increased to 475 beds, each within their own room. In addition, the new hospital would include a new maternal-care department and an expanded emergency department.[27]
The hospital developed and implemented standards and practices that would become valuable components of modern medicine.
In 1897, the hospital installed one of the firstX-ray machines in America. Ten years later, the hospital established the firstphysical therapy department in the country. In response to what was becoming a growing public health threat, it was the first general hospital in the U.S. to open atuberculosis division. In 1973, theNicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma became the first hospital-based center in the nation for the study ofsports medicine.
Early on, the hospital established itself as one of the nation's leading hospitals forcardiac care. In 1938, the firstangiocardiograph in the country was performed at the hospital. In 1955, the hospital became one of the first in New York City to open acardiac catheterization laboratory. Ten years later, the hospital opened the first cardiac-care unit in the metropolitan New York area.
In 1978, the firstcoronary angioplasties in the country were performed at Lenox Hill Hospital and atSt. Mary's Hospital inSan Francisco. In 1994, Lenox Hill Hospital surgeons pioneered minimally invasive directcoronary artery bypass surgery. In 2000, the hospital was the first in the U.S. to perform endoscopic radial artery harvesting.
In 2000, Lenox Hill Hospital became the sponsor ofManhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital.
In 2003, the first drug-coatedstent approved by theU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was implanted at the hospital. It is also one of the first hospitals in the nation to acquire a state-of-the-art robotic cardiac system, which allows surgeons to perform minimally invasiveheart-bypass surgery.
In 2001, the hospital assembled a disaster team to care for casualties of theSeptember 11 attacks at theWorld Trade Center. Emergency crews were sent toGround Zero and supply runs to the area were conducted to aid the rescue workers. The hospital set up a free walk-in Crisis Counseling Center, staffed by the hospital's psychiatrists and therapists, and the blood donor center was expanded to accommodate the thousands of people who came to the hospital to give blood.
In 2007, the hospital celebrated its 150th anniversary, and expanded its dedication to the New York City community by opening a new, state-of-the-art emergency department, the Anne and Isidore Falk Center for Emergency Care at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Many important milestones in the advancement of medical knowledge have been made at the hospital, including:
Many medical pioneers were early members of the hospital's attending staff. Among them were:
In 2021, Lenox Hill Hospital was ranked the No. 4 hospital inNew York City as well as inNew York State. It was ranked among the nation's top 50 hospitals in neurology & neurosurgery (#23), orthopedics (#25) and ear, nose & throat (#27), cardiology & heart surgery (#28), gynecology (#31), diabetes & endocrinology (#38) and geriatrics (#39) according toU.S. News & World Report's annual survey of America's Best Hospitals.[28]
Lenox Hill Hospital provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient medical, surgical, cardiovascular, orthopedic and obstetric services. The hospital has both primary care and specialty outpatient clinics, an ambulance service and an emergency department. Special programs and services includeneurosurgery,sports medicine,interventional cardiology and acardiovascular surgery program, a New York State-designatedAIDS center program, ahigh-risk neonatal care service, anobstetric service, an ambulatory surgery program, arenal dialysis service, and a community health education and outreach program. Other licensed services includecystoscopy, diagnostic radiology services includingCT andMRI scanning,nuclear medicine, and therapeutic radiology. Outpatient services include primary care medicine,pediatrics, prenatal care and family planning,physical therapy,audiology,speech/language pathology, and social work. The hospital also provides inpatient and outpatient adult mental health services.
| Tertiary care teaching hospitals |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Community hospitals | ||
| Specialty-care hospitals | ||
| Freestanding Emergency Department's | ||
| Affiliate hospital | ||
| Medical school | ||
| Graduate school | ||
| Science research facility | ||
| Sponsorships | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
.jpg){kind=link}