Ellis Island National Monument—baggage & Dormitory Building

Ellis Island’s Baggage and Dormitory Building (1908– 1913) was built to accommodate an ever-growing population of immigrants, most often detained on the island for health or legal reasons. The design of the building follows the Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles established by the complex’s architects, Boring & Tildon. From the 1920s on, the building was increasingly used to house immigrants awaiting deportation because of criminal or suspected subversive political action. An abundance of graffiti in the building—the last such in situ scrawlings on the island—attests this use. The Baggage & Dormitory Building suffers from neglect. Its structural systems are failing as a result of water infiltration and its interior finishes, including the surviving graffiti, are deteriorating at an alarming rate.

Since the Watch

In 2009 the federal government provided funds for the preservation of the Baggage and Dormitory building and other historic buildings on Ellis Island.