Connecticut’s historic “sunshine hospital” by the beach will soon disappear forever

Cass Gilbert’s Revolutionary Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Waterford

In 1920, Connecticut kids with TB got a new kind of cure: sunshine.

When their first site got too small, the state bought land in Waterford and hired Cass Gilbert, the same man who built the Woolworth Building.

He made a grand Tudor-style hospital with huge sun decks where kids spent all day in swimsuits, even in winter. Gilbert died in May 1934, just weeks before his creation opened.

As new drugs made sun therapy old news, the building changed jobs – first as a geriatric hospital, then for folks with disabilities.

Now this historic site sits at the heart of Connecticut’s newest coastal park, where a battle still rages over its future.

Kids Got Sunbathing Treatment at a Crowded Beach Hotel

In 1920, Connecticut’s Tuberculosis Commission turned the White Beach Hotel at Crescent Beach into a treatment center for kids with bone and joint tuberculosis.

The main treatment? Sunshine. All 45 beds filled up fast with long waiting lists. When the state tried to grow the facility, they hit a roadblock.

The McCook family, who owned land next door, fought the state in court and won.

The State Bought Waterfront Property After Getting Blocked

After their Niantic plans fell through, Connecticut officials paid $125,000 for 28 acres of the Smith-Grimes estate in Waterford in 1930.

They hired top architect Cass Gilbert, who designed the Woolworth Building in New York and was working on the U.S. Supreme Court Building.

The state bought more land in 1936, growing the property to 36 acres along Long Island Sound with great beach access.

A Famous Architect Created a Hospital That Looked Like a Home

Gilbert designed a U-shaped main building with terraces stepping down toward the ocean for maximum sun.

He used Tudor Revival style with patterned brick, stone, colorful tiles, and fancy dormers that made the hospital feel like a home.

The complex had 195 beds, a 1,700-foot beach, school, cafeteria, and dorms where kids could get daily sunshine therapy.

The Designer Never Saw His Creation in Use

Cass Gilbert died in England on May 17, 1934, at age 74, just one month before his seaside hospital opened.

He never saw children using the sunbathing terraces he carefully designed. The first young patients arrived in June 1934.

Kids 14 and under spent their days in swimsuits year-round, lying on the south-facing terraces to soak up healing sun rays as their main tuberculosis treatment.

New Medicines Made Sunshine Therapy Outdated

In the late 1940s, antibiotics started curing tuberculosis much faster than sunlight could.

With fewer children needing sun therapy, the state let adults and patients with lung tuberculosis use the empty beds by the early 1950s.

Regular hospitals could now treat most tuberculosis cases with medicine, making special places like Seaside unnecessary.

The tuberculosis hospital closed in 1959.

Seaside Stood Out as a Model Disability Center

Connecticut’s Department of Mental Retardation opened Seaside Regional Center in 1961 for people with developmental disabilities.

The facility got praise in Burton Blatt’s 1966 book “Christmas in Purgatory,” which showed awful conditions in many similar places across America.

Blatt pointed to Seaside as a rare good example with caring staff and none of the crowding or abuse common elsewhere.

The center served residents until 1996.

The Buildings Got Historic Status Just Before Closing Forever

The Seaside complex earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 for its Tudor Revival architecture and connection to Cass Gilbert.

Just one year later, in 1996, Seaside Regional Center shut down as more people with disabilities moved into community homes.

The buildings sat empty afterward, slowly falling apart from weather damage, vandalism, and lack of care.

One Developer Fought for 24 Years to Build There

Mark Steiner won the bid to develop the property in 2000, offering $2.5 million to build housing for older adults.

He got zoning approval in 2004, but the state restarted the process. Steiner came back with a higher $7.1 million offer.

Then Governor Jodi Rell visited in 2007 and canceled his contract, deciding the state should keep the property.

This started a decades-long legal fight between Steiner and Connecticut.

The Governor Turned the Land Into a Rare Coastal Park

Governor Dannel Malloy canceled Steiner’s newest contract in September 2014, just four days after the developer filed a zoning appeal.

Malloy announced Seaside would become a state park, the first new coastal state park in Connecticut since Bluff Point in 1963.

Steiner kept fighting, asking permission to sue the state. He finally got approval in 2022 and reached a $2 million settlement with Connecticut.

The Fight to Save Gilbert’s Buildings Continues Today

The state revealed plans in February 2023 to tear down the deteriorated buildings using $7. 1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Steiner filed another lawsuit in March 2024 under the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act, arguing that demolishing the historic buildings would cause unreasonable destruction of an important site.

Meanwhile, Connecticut moves forward with plans for a “passive park” featuring walking trails, restrooms, and shoreline improvements.

Visiting Seaside State Park, Connecticut

Seaside State Park at 36 Shore Road in Waterford is Connecticut’s first new coastal state park in over 50 years.

The historic buildings from the old tuberculosis sanatorium are off-limits, but you can walk the grounds, fish, and access Long Island Sound waterfront.

You can visit daily from 8am to sunset for free, with no parking fees for Connecticut plates. The park plans to add interpretive displays on heliotherapy treatment history.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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