Students' labor aids second historic Ellis Island building

By Linda Myers

Last year they stripped away a half century's worth of weeds and overgrowth to reveal the sleeping beauty that was once the Commissioner's House on Ellis Island. This March 23-25, a new group of Cornell students spent their spring break stabilizing the isolation ward, another neglected, historically important building on the island in the bay between lower Manhattan and Jersey City that once was the gateway to America for millions of immigrants.

This year's group of volunteers, students from Cornell's Historic Preservation Planning (HPP) program and city and regional planning department in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, were joined by alumni and faculty of the college for the three-day intensive undertaking.

"With every passing year, more of the lesser-known structures on Ellis Island are falling into ruin," said Professor Michael Tomlan, director of the Cornell preservation program. "Without taking some immediate steps to stabilize what remains, the task of rehabilitating or restoring the property will become even more difficult -- perhaps even impossible." Stabilization will ensure that the buildings will remain standing for another five to 10 years, allowing time to find more funding for their restoration.

Brian Beadles, a first-year graduate student in historical preservation planning, is hoisted in a cherry picker so he can help remove vegetation from the exterior of the isolation ward building on Ellis Island March 23. Nathan Jonjevic

Last year the student volunteers hoped to attract more attention to the need for a full-scale rehabilitation of the national monument. The effort succeeded. Now about $8.6 million in New Jersey state and federal funds and private donations have been set aside to help stabilize the Ellis Island hospital complex and protect it from further deterioration. Only another $2.3 million is needed to fund the stabilization project fully. Much more will be needed, however, to actually restore the buildings to their former glory and eventually turn them into visitors' sites. So far New Jersey has committed to supply $300 million toward the overall initiative, which might include transforming the complex into a learning center that focuses on the history of public health and immigrant contributions to U.S. society.

"Ellis Island played a key role in our medical history as well as our immigration history," pointed out Nathan Jonjevic, a first-year preservation student and co-organizer of this year's stabilization project. "The doctors and nurses who established the isolation ward were among the first to understand the necessity of containing contagious diseases and sterilizing equipment and bedding to halt the spread of illness. The building represents those pioneering medical advances."

This year's project included removing overgrown, moisture-holding vegetation, which threatened the building's structure and deteriorated its surface; sealing windows and doors to keep out the elements as well as birds and rodents; installing louvers and Plexiglas in the window and door panels to let in air and light and deter mold and mildew; and applying primer to protect the building's ornamental cornice trim and functional metal details.

In addition to Tomlan, Barbara Ebert, a Cornell HPP faculty member with extensive experience in building stabilization, led the work detail this year. Heading the alumni volunteers was Sylvia Augustus Rose, an alumna who is president of the College's Preservation Planning Alumni Association. Alumni and community businesses donated or discounted needed materials and equipment.

Overall, the project went as well as, if not better than, last year's said Tomlan. "We had an excellent turnout, and the weather was drier so that the cherry picker didn't sink in the mud."

"The project went extremely well," Jonjevic concurred. "I am proud of the hard work and effort that all our volunteers put forward, which is evident in the work product left behind on the island."