The Lila Acheson Wallace 1973-2003
Built by Blount Manufacturing, the firm that also constructed Manhattan's famed Circle Line boats, and launched in the summer of 1973, the fifth and final Floating Hospital was launched. Named the Lila Acheson Wallace, it continued to be a respite from the heat of summer for New York City families. 180 feet long, 5 decks tall and with 36,000 square feet of usable space, the ship offered a commercial kitchen, a dumbwaiter, two fully functional generators and pounds of crayons for creative little patients. Ultimately considered an outpatient center, it served 15,000 poor and homeless people annually on the boat and at it's outreach centers.
From the early 1980s through the 1990s, the Lila was docked on Pier 84 at 44th Street on the west side of Manhattan, next to the Intrepid Museum pier. Over it's long sail, the Lila welcomed the poor, the sick and the famous. New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, Elizabeth Taylor and David Rockefeller were among it's notable passengers.
