Roosevelt Island Goldwater Hospital Historic Lamps Stolen From Coler Backyard Last Week, RIHS President Was Heartbroken – But Thrilled To Learn Yesterday That NYPD Recovered The Lamps From Antique Dealer Who Recognized Their Value
From 1939 to 2013, six bronze lamps graced the entrance to Roosevelt Island’s Goldwater Hospital, now the site of Cornell Tech.
They fully functioned until the day they were disconnected.
On a graceful plinth, the lamps were impressive.
Typical of public architecture, Goldwater was the benefit of WPA, architecture
and design.
After the closing of Goldwater the six lamps were stored in the backyard of Coler Hospital.
From when I started working as a volunteer at Coler, I tried to have the
administration, clean up the area, find a new home and protect the
lamps.
One lamp was already broken, and the others just sat in semi-open view.
On December 26, four lamps were hauled off. A truck arrived and in 20 minutes
the lamps with gone.
A police report has been filed, but surely these valuable lamps were at a scrap dealer the next day. One lamp and one broken one remain.
On December 29, the truck returned, and within five minutes the last standing lamp was gone. The damaged one is now secured.
This is the truck, with no markings and no license plates arriving and
departing the site.
This is probably one of the most heartbreaking episodes in my years on the island. To see valuable historic artifacts being stolen, destroyed, ignored by so many is tragic.
What of our history be gone next?
What landmark will be ignored?
What building or site will not be maintained?
Look around and see how our treasures are being ignored (start at the Chapel bell).
Maybe 2024 will wake up RIOC and others to our fragile history.
I received a call this afternoon from a NYPD Detective that the Goldwater lamps had been recovered. Apparently the scrap dealer who acquired them from the perpetrator sold them to an antique collector/dealer who immediately recognized their value and history.
They are now secured with the dealer. Insurance, a permanent home and use for them will have to be determined. This will probably take a long while.
I am thrilled that all of this came together and there will be future, though not what had ever thought.
