Abandoned Building 25 at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center
Located in Queens Village, New York, Building 25 at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center has sat abandoned and rotting since 1974. The psychiatric center is still open and operating but, for almost four decades, Building 25 still stands — ignored and decaying.
Originally, the open land was owned by the Creed family and was purchased by the New York State Legislature in 1870 to house the New York State National Guard. After four decades of complaints about random long range bullets flying into surrounding areas, the National Guard abandoned the buildings in 1912. At that time, Creedmoor State Hospital opened as a farm colony for then Brooklyn State Hospital, with patients working on the farmland for treatment and room and board.
From 1918 to 1974, the population grew from several hundred to over five thousand patients. Through the decades, a large number of violent criminals were sent there and allowed to wander the grounds freely, with some easily escaping. With reports of rape, assault, suicides, fires and burglaries, the institution was out of control. In addition, complaints of patient abuse by staff and unsanitary living conditions added to the already horrid and unsafe living conditions at the hospital.
By 1974, the original Creedmoor State Hospital was moved to a new facility on the property and renamed the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. While all of the other buildings once used were vacated and demolished, Building 25 was left deserted. To this day, the building stands abandoned and ignored by the state. Why buildings like this are allowed to stand rotting for decades can only be answered by their owners.
original article and photographs by Hannah Frishberg