Join The Historic Districts Council for a tour of the “T Building,” an award-winning adaptive reuse that transformed the former Triboro Hospital For Tuberculosis at 82-41 Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens, into a residential building with 200 units of affordable and supportive housing, and 20,000 sq.ft. of amenities and community facilities.

This tour, led by Maggie Poxon, Senior Project Manager for Dunn Development, the affordable housing developer which completed the project, will take place both inside and outside the building and focus on how the building’s history informed its present use; how preservation tools like the Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program helped make the project possible; how the project team was able to retain and adapt the building’s historic features, and how current residents and community organizations are using the space.

The Triboro Hospital for Tuberculosis, now known as the “T Building,” is located on the Queens Hospital Center campus in Jamaica, Queens. Originally conceived to combat the tuberculosis epidemic, the hospital was designed in the late 1930s by renowned architect John Russell Pope—famous for the Jefferson Memorial—with final plans completed by the firm Eggers & Higgins after Pope’s death. Built in Art Moderne style and completed in 1941, the hospital emphasized light, air, and healing through features such as glass-enclosed solariums, cantilevered balconies, sunrooms on every floor, and an angled orientation to optimize sunlight exposure.

Intended to house over 500 patients, the 11-story steel-framed structure was positioned on a hill to overlook the surrounding neighborhood, and it incorporated a minimalist facade with gray brick, limestone trim, and expansive windows—key elements of modern hospital design at the time. Though it began as a specialized tuberculosis facility, the building was gradually converted into a general hospital in the mid-20th century and later served various administrative and psychiatric functions. In recent years, after standing partially vacant and facing multiple redevelopment proposals, the “T Building” was successfully preserved and repurposed into affordable and supportive housing—recognized for both its architectural and historical significance with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

For more reading on the building’s preservation efforts read “A Tuberculosis Hospital Gets a New Lease on Life as Affordable and Supportive Housing,”in Architectural Record. 

This program is part of HDC’s 2025 Conference series, Challenges and Opportunities for Historic Affordable Housing.

Thursday June 12, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
82-41 Parsons Boulevard
Jamaica, NY
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