Roosevelt Island has Regular People/Renwick Ruin

A visitor to Roosevelt Island had these things to say upon his first visit:

Well, the coolest thing about it is that there is parkland everywhere. And (today at least) the parkland smells nice. The water smells rather like lakewater (huh? isn't this still the East River?) and there's grassy bits all around the perimeter.

Also he finds Roosevelt Islanders to be regular people.

As for the people, I saw pretty much everyone. Large immigrant families having barbecues, people with laptops and sketch books... mostly they looked like pretty regular people, not even New Yorker regular, just regular regular... Part of me wants to live here but part of me doesn't think I could stomach the lack of New-York-ness. There *were* a few businesses, but they seemed to be mostly franchise (Starbucks, Duane Reade) not mom-and-pop; the few restaurants looked like the sorts of things you'd find in a suburban strip mall.

Still, it's a cool place in a weird way. I definitely want to pack a picnic, a sketch book and go back some nice fall day.

He also took the nice picture of the Renwick Ruin above and inquired of the history of the structure. Here is a brief background of the Smallpox hospital (Renwick Ruin) from the Roosevelt Island Historical Society.

Located a the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, this fine Gothic Revival structure was originally constructed for the treatment of that "loathsome malady," smallpox, and for many years was New York City's only such institution. It is now a picturesque ruin, one which could readily serve as the setting for a 19th century "Gothic" romance.

The construction of a new hospital was under consideration in 1850, at which time smallpox victims were cared for in what Resident Physician William Kelly described as "a pile of poor wooden out houses on the banks of the river." Unlike numerous other medical institutions built by the city on the island in the 19th century, the Smallpox Hospital was not planned exclusively for charity cases. Because of the seriousness and the contagious nature of the disease paying patients were also admitted. Although vaccination against smallpox was common medical practice by the mid-19th century, the disease continued to plague New York city. Smallpox often afflicted recently arrived immigrants, and therefore increasingly more stringent quarantine measures were instituted. As late as 1871 smallpox reached epidemic proportions in new York, while during the Civil War many soldiers as well as immigrants, were stricken with the disease.

The Smallpox Hospital (Renwick Ruins) has been designated a landmark by the NYC Landmark Commission.

On the basis of a careful consideration of the history, the architecture and other features of this building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of New York City. The Commission further finds that, among its important qualities, the Smallpox Hospital is a fine example of the crenellated Gothic Revival Style, that it was designed by one of New York's most prominent 19th century architects, that it long served as the only center for the treatment of smallpox in the City, and that it is a romantic and picturesque ruin, evoking memories of the past.

Accordingly, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 63 of the City of New York and Chapter 8-A of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designates as a Landmark the Smallpox Hospital, Roosevelt Island, located near the southern end of the Island, approximately opposite East 52nd Street, Borough of Manhattan, and designates as its related Landmark Site that part of Borough of Manhattan Tax Block Map 1337, Lot 1 on which the described structure is situated.