Strecker Memorial Laboratory

Strecker Memorial Laboratory is a historic building located in Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Built in 1892 to serve as a laboratory for City Hospital, it was "the first institution in the nation for pathological and bacteriological research." The building was designed by architects Frederick Clarke Withers and Walter Dickson in the Romanesque Revival style. In 1907, the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology took over the running of the lab. The institute left the lab in the 1950s, and it fell into disrepair. In 1972, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1976 it was designated a New York City landmark. New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided to use the structure to house a power conversion substation there to power trains that run underneath Roosevelt Island. The city faithfully restored the building, and the substation has been active since 2000.