Summary

Creator: Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.). Board of Directors
Title: Minutes and Related Records of the Doctors Hospital Board of Directors
Dates: 1927-1994
Volume: 3 boxes, 35 inches

This is a collection of historic material. The Aufses Archives does not manage medical records from Doctors Hospital. If you were born at Doctors Hospital and need to obtain a copy of your birth certificate, please contact the New York City Department of Health.

Preface

The Mount Sinai Archives retrieved these records in September 2016 from an off-site storage account associated with the Beth Israel Medical Center, which acquired Doctors Hospital in 1987 and closed it in 2004. Beth Israel became part of the Mount Sinai Health System in 2013 as part of the merger between Mount Sinai and Continuum Health Partners.

Note that the proper name of the institution is “Doctors Hospital” without an apostrophe.

Historical Note

Doctors Hospital was a voluntary hospital on the Upper East Side of New York City which catered to affluent private patients. It was located at 170 East End Avenue between 87^th and 88^th Streets, overlooking Carl Schurz Park and Gracie Mansion.

The hospital was founded in the late 1920s by a group of socially prominent doctors and investors to meet the growing demand for private hospital rooms. Hospitals, by this time, had replaced the home as the primary site of medical treatment for patients of all social classes, but New York City’s hospitals had a limited supply of rooms for affluent patients who did not want to be housed on public wards.

The cornerstone of the hospital building was laid on April 30, 1929, and the hospital opened to patients on February 19, 1930. On its opening, the fourteen-story building contained 264 private rooms, with an additional 32 hotel-like rooms in which patients’ relatives could stay during treatment. It had no wards. Nicknamed the “hotel hospital” for its lavish interiors, its rooms were decorated in an early American style and included conveniences such as private iceboxes, which aimed at replicating the comforts of home for its wealthy patients. The founding medical staff of the hospital consisted of 182 doctors and surgeons.

The hospital was founded as a for-profit corporation and was expected to yield a return for its shareholders. In 1932, however, the shares of the hospital were turned over to a charitable foundation and the hospital was reorganized as a voluntary institution. Many believed this decision to have been motivated primarily by tax purposes. In 1941 the city brought a suit against the hospital for payment of back taxes, arguing that because it catered to private patients and did not offer charity care, it was not entitled to the hospital property tax exemption. The State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city, but the ruling was overturned by the Appellate Division in 1944, which held that the exemption applied equally to all voluntary hospitals regardless of their patient demographics. Throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century the hospital continued to serve New York’s social elite as a place for medical treatment in a genteel private setting.

In 1987, Doctors Hospital was acquired by Beth Israel Medical Center. By 1992 it had been renamed Beth Israel Hospital North, and in 1998 it was renamed the Beth Israel Medical Center Singer Division in honor of Beth Israel donors Herbert and Nell Singer. Beth Israel closed the hospital in 2004. The following year, the building was torn down and replaced by luxury residences.

From its founding until its acquisition by Beth Israel in 1987, Doctors Hospital was governed by a Board of Directors. Following the acquisition, this body was reorganized as a Board of Trustees, and in 1992 it was renamed the Board of Trustees of Beth Israel Hospital North.

Sources: “The Doctors’ Hospital,” New York Times, May 4, 1929; “Doctors’ Hospital Keeps Cures Hidden,” New York Times, February 10, 1930; “Doctors Hospital Receives Patients,” New York Times, February 20, 1930; “Doctors Hospital Loses Suit on Tax,” New York Times, November 28, 1941; “Doctors Hospital Wins Tax-Exemption Plan,” New York Times, May 13, 1944; “These Days, You Have to Be Ill to Get Into Doctors Hospital,” New York Times, December 27, 1970.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists primarily of the minutes of the Doctors Hospital Board of Directors and its successor bodies from 1932 to 1994. The minutes of the year 1987, during which the hospital was acquired by the Beth Israel Medical Center, are missing.

The minutes document the administrative and financial operations of an affluent voluntary hospital. These include: the approval of budgets; the receipt of gifts and donations; the management of real estate belonging to the hospital corporation; the progress and outcome of suits against the hospital; the receipt of financial and committee reports; the recruitment, staffing and payment of nurses and residents; and the granting of staff privileges to doctors. Notably, during much of the hospital’s lifespan, the last meeting of each year passed a motion approving the coming year’s roster of physicians. This means that the minutes of a given year often include a complete roster of the following year’s medical staff.

The 1958 minutes include a pasted-in copy of the complete hospital by-laws, which are a useful starting point for understanding the administrative and medical organization of the hospital.

The collection includes a small assortment of minutes and legal records dated 1927-1932 that relate to the 87^th Street and East End Avenue Corporation. This was an entity, legally distinct from Doctors Hospital, which managed the real estate aspects of the project during the initial establishment of the hospital. It was absorbed by the main Doctors Hospital corporation in 1932, likely as part of its restructuring as a nonprofit voluntary hospital. The collection also includes a small assortment of legal records (1983-1989) and minutes (1987-1991) related to the Doctors Hospital Foundation, a legally distinct entity set up during the process of integrating Doctors Hospital with the Beth Israel Medical Center.

Finally, there is a small folder of historical notes, dated 1969, which were found tipped into the first volume of minutes. These notes include biographical details on some of the founders of the hospital.

Related Materials

The vertical subject file of the Mount Sinai Archives contains news clippings related to the history of Doctors Hospital.

Subjects

• 87^th Street and East End Avenue Corporation
• Doctors Hospital (New York, N.Y.). Board of Trustees
• Beth Israel Medical Center (New York, N.Y.). Beth Israel Hospital North. Board of Directors
• Hospitals – Administration [LCSH]
• Hospitals, Voluntary [MeSH]

Container List

This is a collection of historic material. The Aufses Archives does not manage medical records from Doctors Hospital. If you were born at Doctors Hospital and need to obtain a copy of your birth certificate, please contact the New York City Department of Health.