In our series Beyond the Village and Back, we take a look at some great landmarks throughout New York City outside of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, celebrate their special histories, and reveal their (sometimes hidden) connections to the Village.

The New York Foundling is one of New York City’s oldest and largest child welfare agencies. Founded in 1869 to save the lives of babies being abandoned on the streets of New York, the Foundling currently serves over 30,000 people each year in New York City, Rockland County, and Puerto Rico. Its comprehensive community programs serve vulnerable children and families with foster care, adoption, education, mental health, and many other community-based services. While the world has changed a bit since 1869, The New York Foundling continues to share its founders’ belief that no one should ever be abandoned, and that all children deserve the right to grow up in loving and stable environments.

The New York Foundling Hospital in 1880.

They also built and operated one of the most remarkable buildings in New York — a first-of-its-kind full block complex bounded by Lexington and Third Avenues, 68th and 69th Streets, which formed a striking landmark on the Upper East Side when opened in 1873.  But before we get to that, let’s take a look at New York Foundling’s much more modest beginnings, and what happened to that once prominent landmark.

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