The Last Unknown Place in New York City

Fact The Last Unknown Place in New York City

Tuberculosis Pavilion Lobby, North Brother Island, New York. Photographer Christopher Payne specializes in the documentation of America’s vanishing architecture and industrial landscape. His new book, North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, explores an uninhabited island of ruins in the East River of New York City. (Photo by Christopher Payne)

Tuberculosis Pavilion, North Brother Island, New York. North Brother Island came into prominence in the late 19th century, when public health issues of an exploding population regularly made headlines. Like other islands in the harbor, it was perfectly suited as a buffer against contagions, and from the 1870s through the 1930s it was used primarily as a quarantine hospital (the infamous Typhoid Mary was confined there). (Photo by Christopher Payne)

Beach at Dusk, North Brother Island, New York. With permission from the NYC Parks Department, Payne was one of a few photographers allowed on the island, and his photographs comprise a comprehensive record of the buildings and its evolving landscape over many seasons. His pictures invoke the former grandeur of the site, capturing hints of buried streets and infrastructure now reclaimed by nature, while also offering a unique glimpse into a city’s future without people. (Photo by Christopher Payne)

Classroom Books, North Brother Island, New York. After WWII it provided a temporary home for veterans, and from the 1950s it was used as a juvenile drug treatment center until its closure in 1963. (Photo by Christopher Payne)