New York Academy of Medicine ca. 1927

A group of respected physicians founded The New York Academy of Medicine in 1847 to provide a voice for “the advancement of the art and science of medicine, the maintenance of a public medical Library, and the promotion of public health and medical education." As an advocate for modern ideas in medicine, the Academy was an important part of improving public health and sanitation as well as documenting the city's populace, particularly births and deaths (leading to the eventual formation of the Medical Examiner’s Office).

Though it has occupied multiple buildings during its lifetime, including the old Sherry's Hotel (10 West 44th Street) and 15 West 43rd, it is now housed on Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street. Its current home, to which it moved in 1926, was designed by York and Sawyer. The style of the building is eclectic, incorporating Byzantine Revival and Lombardian Romanesque elements. Notably, inscriptions and mythological figures and animals relating to medicine adorn its walls. The building's library remains one of the most significant collections of medical and public health records in the United States, encompassing everything from papyri on surgery to Sigmund Freud's original writings to a prototype for George Washington's dentures.