The Saint Vincent's HospiTale

On January 12, the coldest day of the year, Vincent was found near Saint Vincent's hospital, in New York.
It's a real place, in the Village, and it was not unusual to see there B&B fans in devout pilgrimage, taking pictures and looking around, wondering where exactly...
Now it is going to disappear forever.
This page is a tribute to a place where a dream began,
and when only the oldest New Yorkers remember it, it will still be here, in the maps of our hearts.

The episodes -- The history -- The photos -- The maps

The episodes

 

CATHERINE
What are you doing down here? Why are you here?

VINCENT
I - I was a baby -- abandoned, left to die...
Someone found me, brought me here - to the man who became my father.
He took me, he raised me - he taught me everything.
He named me Vincent... That’s where I was found, near the hospital -- St. Vincent’s.

CATHERINE
I don’t know what to believe...

VINCENT
It’s all true...

(Pilot - Once Upon a Time in the City of New York)

FATHER
It was the twelfth of January... the coldest day in the year.

SAMANTHA
You're the one who found him, right, Father? Near St. Vincent's Hospital...

FATHER
Uh... not exactly, Samantha. No. He was found... and then he was brought to me. And he was wrapped in rags, rather like a present. But nobody wanted him because of the way he looked.

(God Bless the Child)

PARACELSUS
I’m no match for you. Of course I will. I will do as you say.
But wouldn’t you like to hear me first?
Or are you content to accept Father’s story?
Found as a babe outside Saint Vincent’s hospital.
Did you… did you really believe that all these years?

(The Achemist)

VINCENT
There was a child, a baby. Found among the garbage behind St. Vincent's Hospital...

FATHER
Wrapped in rags...

VINCENT
You took him in. Raised him as your son. But... he was not an ordinary child. He was... different from the others.

FATHER
How did you find out about him?

VINCENT
Tell me what happened?

FATHER
No! No...

VINCENT
Please?

FATHER
Please... go away... leave me... please... no...

VINCENT
What happened to you, Father? What happened to the child? Tell me...

FATHER
He died... died.

(Remember Love*)

* It's interesting to notice that the only place in the episodes where it's said that Vincent is found in the garbage behind the hospital is in a scene where it's Vincent himself who speaks, in a bizarre dream sequence, prompted by his wish to never be born. The other scenes just mention "near" or "outside" St Vincent's hospital. Actually, there was no "behind" St Vincent's hospital.
 
 

The history


It gave the name to our Vincent. It's the place in the heart where Vincent, as an infant, was found, and the dream began. But it is also a real place in New York City, Northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and West Eleventh Street, that now is going to disappear forever.

In 1849 the Sisters of Charity opened St. Vincent's Hospital, the first Catholic hospital in New York City, and the third in the city. The Elizabeth Bayley Seton Building, a seven-story red-brick Georgian-style building, was completed in 1899 by the architectural firm Schickel & Ditmars. It was named after Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American to be canonized. She also founded the Sisters of Charity who, in turn, founded St. Vincent’s.

It is there that many of Titanic’s survivors received medical attention once they disembarked the Carpathia, since that is was the closest hospital to Pier 54. St. Vincent’s often took care of injured seamen.

It is there that Dylan Thomas, a poet dear to the fandom, died on 9th November 1953. It is there that, maybe that same Winter, our Vincent was left.

This is how the hospital looked at that time. The building was demolished in the 80's, and replaced by the current building in the same place. Now, the plans are to move the hospital to a new tower, to be built a few blocks away, and replace it with a residential complex.

So, the place where Vincent was found, after having disappeared as a building, will disappear also from the maps as a hospital. It will remain only in our hearts. A safe place anyway.

 

The pictures

View of West 11th St and Seventh Avenue, Sept 1979. Upper Sout (front) elevation, Sept 1979 North (rear) central elevation, Sept 1979.Central entrance, Sept 1979.  Fence outside the East Wing, on 11th Street, Sept 1979. Chapel door, Second floor, Sept 1979. Chapel, Sept 1979. Chapel, Sept 1979.Stained glass panels, Northwall, 11th Street entry, Sept 1979. Painting, second floor, Sept 1979. Floor tiles, Sept 1979. Floor tiles, Sept 1979. Floor tiles, Sept 1979. Floor tiles, Sept 1979.

St Vincent's Hospital Complex, Elizabeth bayley Seton Building, 151-167 West 11th Street, New York City, NY, USA
 

 

 

The maps - click to enlarge

 

 

... and YOU thought to be obsessed?
 

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