French Hospital (Manhattan)


French Hospital of New York, at 329 West 29th Street was a hospital established in 1881 and closed in 1977. The last building it occupied was built in 1928 by the Société Française de Bienfaisance. It was in the Chelsea neighborhood. At its opening, it was operated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Its owner, the French Benevolent Society, merged with the Polyclinic Medical School and Health Center in 1969. The French and Polytechnic Medical School and Health Center closed May 13, 1977 for a lack of funding.

History

The building replaced the French Hospital facilities at 450 West 34th Street, 230 West 34th Street, and original French Hospital on West 14th Street - then the city’s French section. The hospital closed in the 1960s and in 1981 became residential rentals under Section 8.
The New York City French Hospital was founded in 1880 by doctors Julio J. Henna, Chauveau, Deberceau, Muvial, and Ferrer. Dr. Henna, who was also a member of the medical faculty at Bellevue Hospital, became medical director of the institution.
In the novel The Godfather, Vito Corleone's gunshot wounds are treated at the French Hospital.