Photographer Shines a Light on Abandoned Bronx Island

North Brother Island (Photo credit: The Kingston Lounge)


Ian Ference, a photographer who specializes in shooting derelict New York City buildings, has turned his lens on North Brother Island.

Located in the East River just north of Rikers Island, the island has been abandoned since the '60s. It had been home to Riverside Hospital, which among other things treated smallpox and leprosy and other contagious diseases. Its most famous patient: Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, who died there in 1938. Today, several of buildings are still standing, though in various states of disrepair.

The island, currently a bird sanctuary and under the jurisdiction of the city’s Parks Department, is off-limits to the public.

But Ference, who goes by Richard Nickel, Jr. (Richard Nickel was a photographer who shot vacant buildings in Chicago, and argued against their demolition), must have made at least two trips - with or without permission. And to our benefit. His photos, which he published on his blog, The Kingston Lounge, are something to behold. He also gives a fascinating overview of the island's history.

Visit the "Floating Lady" this Holiday Weekend

The “Floating Pool Lady,” a seven-lane pool on a barge, opened on June 27 in Barretto Point Park in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. The pool barge will be docked on a pier in the East River by this park through September 1, 2008 (Labor Day). The pool is open Monday through Sunday from 11am to 7pm. The presence of the Floating Pool Lady is a great attraction to draw residents to this beautiful park that opened in October of 2006. While the Floating Pool is operating, the MTA will run buses every 30 minutes to the park from the Prospect Avenue 2 and 5 train station and the Hunts Point Avenue 6 train stop. The freshwater pool features a pool house, locker rooms, bathrooms, and a gangplank connecting land lubbers to the pool. The entire facility is ADA compliant.

From the pool deck, visitors have beautiful views of North Brother Island (site of the sinking of the General Slocum in 1904, NYC’s worst maritime disaster, and former location of Riverside Hospital home to Typhoid Mary) and New York City’s waterfront.