Project Schedule - Weill Medical College

VOL. 5 • NO. 1 • SPRING 2008 • NEWS OF FACILITY PROJECTS AND IMPROVEMENTS • WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE
PHOTO BY JOSHUA HAMMANN
Historic faculty club reopens to great acclaim after extensive facelift
F
or the better part of a year, Taasha
Ramsay, manager of the Griffis Faculty
Club, had to scramble all over
the city to stage luncheons, receptions and
dinners for the physicians, faculty and
administrators of Weill Cornell Medical
College and NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center
while the club underwent an 11-month
renovation.
November 27 marked the end of
Ramsay’s scrambling days, as the ribbon
was officially cut on the re-imagined
Griffis Faculty Club.
“When you don’t have a faculty club,
you realize how much you miss it,” said
Dr. David Hajjar, dean of the Weill Cornell
Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
Not only a place for faculty to enjoy
lunch or an after-work cocktail with a colleague,
the Griffis Faculty Club also
serves as an important fundraising tool for
dinners, receptions and meetings that
The former Rolls Royce Garage at 407 East 61st Street.
Bill Green, Dean Antonio M. Gotto Jr., Taasha Ramsay, Dean David Hajjar, Dr. Allan
Gibofsky and Anita Gotto cut the ribbon to officially open the new Griffis Faculty Club.
include the Weill Cornell Overseers,
Hospital Trustees, and others.
During his remarks, Dr. Hajjar
recounted how a chat with Vice Provost
of Development Larry Schafer over break-
Weill Cornell Medical College is located in Manhattan on the Upper East Side at York Avenue and 69th Street.
fast at Griffis helped spark the project.
“We realized we really needed to do
something about the club,” Dr. Hajjar said.
“It had clearly seen better days.”
The Griffis Faculty Continues on page 2
The Rolls Royce of Renovations
Abuilding that once held
some of the world’s finest
automobiles is currently
being renovated for use as office
and laboratory space for Weill Cornell
Medical College. The former
Rolls Royce Garage at 407 East
61st Street, between First and York
Avenues, will soon be the home for
a portion of the faculty and staff
of the Department of Neurology
and Neuroscience, as well as
Department of Surgery staff and
other administrative offices.
Project Manager Frank Kubicek
said workers have completed the
excavation phase of the project and
have begun installing the steel
structure. The work on the building
should be completed by October or
November of 2008 and ready for
occupancy by January 2009.
The specifically identified program
to relocate to the facility is Dr.
Costantino Iadecola’s neurobiology
research group, currently dispersed
among several floors at the Kips Bay
Building at 411 E. 69th Street. •
PHOTO BY RICHARD LOBELL

Griffis Renovation
Continued from page 1
Club was established in 1962
when Stanton Griffis made a generous
donation to have a club built
in the honor of his daughter,
Theodora Griffis, who had been a
patient at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Hospital.
Onceadim,dark-woodpaneled
club with an inadequate kitchen,
Griffis has been reinvented as an
open, bright space with a new bar,
kitchen and a smaller, private dining
area for more intimate gatherings.
When the time came to actually
design the club’s interior, Dr.
Hajjar relied on two women
whose tastes were perhaps more
trusted than his own: Joan Weill
and Anita Gotto. “Tony and Sandy’s
wives set the tone for the new club, and
they really did a brilliant job.”
Now complete, the club’s role in the
Medical College and Hospital has
become more evident than ever.
“We realized what a valuable and
indispensable role it plays in our institution,”
said Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., dean
Project Schedule
of the Medical College.
“It’s part of the lifeblood of this institution
and this renovation was sorely
needed,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, executive
vice president and COO of
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. “Everyone
involved should be congratulated.”
“The current renovations are more than
a facelift for this distinguished club,” said
Dr. Allan Gibofsky, who sits on the club’s
board, “but an attempt to bring the club
into the 21st century.” •
If you are interested in booking the Griffis
Faculty Club for an event, please contact
Taasha Ramsay, Faculty Club Manager,
at tlr2002@med.cornell.edu or (212)
746-6100.
CONSTRUCTION MARCH 2008 TO JUNE 2008
PROJECT LOCATION MAR-08 APR-08 MAY-08 JUNE–08
LASDON HOUSE UPGRADE Lasdon House
SURGERY LC7
STEM CELL CORE FACILITY A8
PUBLIC HEALTH/EHS 400 E. 67TH ST.
LECTURE ROOM A950
ARGO FACILITY 575 LEX/9TH FL
RARC RENOVATION C7-D7
UROLOGY RENOVATION A9-F9
ROLLS ROYCE GARAGE RENO. 407 E. 61ST ST.
NY BLOOD CENTER LABS 301 E. 67TH ST.
CORRIDOR (DEAN’S OFFICES) F1
1ST FL FIRE ALARM & SPRINKLERS BUILDINGS A-D
Enjoying their expanded and remodeled Griffis Faculty Club kitchen are, from left, Robert Galuzzi, chef;
Wlater Revels, assistant chef; and Robert Barnes, line cook.
A PUBLICATION OF WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE’S OFFICES OF FACILITY DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC INITIATIVES • PRODUCED BY THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, (212) 821-0560.
PHOTO BY RICHARD LOBELL