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J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital
By Elizabeth Licata; photos by Char Szabo-Perricelli
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These photos of the J. N. Adam complex are by Char Szabo-Perricelli, a photographer/artist with a passion for architecture, history, and the environment, and a penchant for shooting the mostly unnoticed. She first saw J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital nine years ago and has been drawn to its magnificence ever since. Perricelli contacted the Friends of J. N. Adam to share the photos, in order to help draw attention to this local treasure and possibly further its chances of preservation.
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WNY’s Forgotten Temple Of Health In The Hinterlands
It was once a showplace—and it’s still impressive, despite the signs of decay. The J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital in Perrysburg is truly a hidden treasure. Most people in Western New York have never set eyes on it, and—unless something radical is done to restore/reuse the huge facility—they never will.
The large complex, surrounded by 500 acres of forest, is one of several structures in WNY designed by architect John H. Coxhead, the most well-known of which is the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church. Coxhead was commissioned to build a hospital dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis by Buffalo mayor J. N. Adam in 1909. Adam paid for the land to build such a facility with his own money. At that time, the “white plague” was raging throughout Buffalo, with thousands of cases every year. Over 500 died from it in 1910.
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Coxhead built a gracious red-brick sanatorium modeled after southern plantations, with ornamental columns and wide verandahs on every floor so that patients could sleep in the open air. Fresh air and high altitude were part of the recommended treatment for tuberculosis and the Perrysburg site had both. The complex also includes a dining hall with a stained glass dome taken from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition’s Temple of Music. The architecture—which emphasizes light and spaciousness—could not be more different from Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, but it is equally beautiful.
J. N. Adam was used as a tubercular hospital until 1960 and then was turned over to the State of New York for use as a developmental disability center. By 1995, the institutional treatment of such disabilities had ended and the complex was abandoned. It has been empty since then, a sadly deteriorating victim of the inability of New York State—the current owner—to find a successful and appropriate reuse plan. There also seems to be no will to perform any maintenance on any of the structures.
I first happened upon J. N. Adam during the course of an aimless Sunday drive in 2005. It’s an amazing sight, especially when unexpected. At that time, it was open and seemingly unguarded, and I was able to walk through the grounds and look in the windows. Now it is surrounded by an imposing expanse of chainlink.
A logging enterprise tried and failed to gain use of the property in 2005, and the group Friends of J. N. Adam Historic Landmark and Forest seems to be the only advocate for preserving the complex, as it slowly slides into an all-too-common demolition-by-neglect scenario. Visit jnadam.org to learn more.
—Elizabeth Licata
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