I’ve always admired the building at 125 Worth Street, which houses the Departments of Health, Hospitals, and Sanitation (or at least did at some point since the building opened in 1935).
Enormous Art Deco–inspired lanterns and bronze grillwork flank the entrances, and health-themed ornamentation decorate the facade.
Then there’s this small sign above an unremarkable flight of stairs descending to a basement door on the side of the building.
It reads “Clinic Department of Sanitation.” The lettering is lovely and eye-catching.
But I wonder who lined up outside this door decades ago when a clinic existed here, and what they came here to treat.