Leftover Metrocard Change Infuriates Some
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
2nd Avenue Subway Cooling System Will "Blight" UES
This past weekend our very own Jake Dobkin infiltrated the Brooklyn Navy Yard once again, this time hitting up Admiral's Row. According to Officer’s Row, the authority on the area, the "small section of the Brooklyn Navy Yard was home to high-ranking officers and their families. The ten houses (six buildings) were built between 1864 and 1901. Surrounded by a high brick wall and iron gates, Officer's Row was a small piece of beauty amidst a bustling industrial neighborhood. It housed tennis courts, a stable-turned ice skating rink, and parade grounds. Several varieties of fruit trees and a communal vegetable garden could be found dotting the landscape." (Here are some exterior shots.)
When the Navy Yard was signed over to the city in 2001 this was the one area that was kept under the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction (here's the Federal government's Admiral's Row review site). Now preservationists are fighting to keep the homes standing, as developers plan for a supermarket to take over the site. Crain's recently reported that "After 20 years of debate and controversy, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. expects to issue a request for proposals for the six-acre site housing Admiral's Row—10 historic but crumbling residences more than a century old—by as early as February." Stay tuned as the battle lines continue to form and the fate of the area is decided upon.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Counting down the days until Dobkin gets arrested for trespassing.
The pics show what the White House is gonna look like after the Chinese foreclose on it and after Obama rips out the copper plumbing in anger over the eviction.
DEADBEATS.
I really think these documentary missions serve an important social purpose. Once you see how beautiful these places are inside, it's hard to accept the idea of knocking them down to make a supermarket. No one should accept that development requires the destruction of our city's architectural history.
Jake- I'm sure my comment will have no impact on what you say or do, but these sites are often dangerous and unstable. Collapses and other hazardous conditions are very real possibilities.
Let's say you're on a "documentary mission", somewhere you shouldn't be, and a wall does indeed collapse on you. In a worst case scenario, who knows how long it could be until someone came across the site?
You also have to think about your influence on other (less careful) individuals. Someone sees your pics, wants to go check it out for themselves, and ends up getting hurt in the process. Bummer.
There are probably other ways to get authorized access to many of these sites. Do you at least check with some sort of local authority to see if an engineer or other qualified staff member might be able to accompany you and keep you out of harm's way? Many governing bodies are more enthused to advertise the history of their landmarks than you might think.
I always attempt to go through the proper channels to get access to a site. Sometimes it takes months to track down the right people and get permission-- often, there is no response, or I get turned down. Going without permission is always a last resort.
And safety is something I take very seriously-- I don't want to get hurt, or put anyone in the situation of having to rescue me. Entering an abandoned structure is not something someone should ever do without being mindful of the very serious risks.
Hell, people do it for Weird NJ all the time.
I'm with nononono
Come on, cut the "infiltrated" euphemism crap out and call it what it is: Trespassing. Don't be such a bunch of sissies.
I find it interesting and think this issue of trespassing is ridiculous. It isn't as though he's doing the site any harm.
Then again, when I was 17, my friend and I would seek out abandoned places in the area we lived...like a mental institution and bowling alleys, for the purposes of exploring and taking photographs. Maybe that's why I can relate. However, I wouldn't try and do this in the NYC area for fear of being raped or murdered or something.
Its a real shame what they have let happen to these houses they should be sold to someone who wants to restore them. i have often wondered what these looked like inside and they are beautiful i wish they would let me have one buy one.
P.S. who gives a shit if its trespassing or not who hasn't wondered what was inside or an abondoned building like this before
Guys, I have to agree with Jake on this one. (Amazing, I know.) This is something called urban exploration. True urban explorers know what they're doing and help to make records of places before they're torn down, sharing the information with others. They don't steal and they don't destroy.
One of the best times I had was being up on the High Line with nobody else around, snapping pictures like a maniac. It's not often in NYC that you get a place outside all to yourself. It'll be completely different when the new High Line park opens in a few months. The place will be mobbed.
Here you are: a nation of war criminal perverts who have no problem trespassing into other countries in order to rob, murder & mutilate but who question the validity of trespassing into an abandoned building to take some stupid pics.
IDIOTS.
I think ol' Future Taliban here's gotta lighten the hell up. Why the hate?
Jake's right. We've lost a lot of historical structures to demolition by neglect because they either got in the way of a developer or once served a purpose that people today would rather forget, such as asylums. These houses are pretty straightforward icons of a particular place and time and should be saved. Besides the great stuff above, check out Opacity.com for some chilling and intriguing explorations.
Great pics, nice work.
Horrible photos of a beautiful location.
My god, having spent some years helping my sister restore her 19th century house from years of sloppy maintenance, just the amount of plasterwork needed here makes me hurt. On the other hand, the woodwork is clearly beyond the heatgun, so that's a lot of labor that won't be needed. Are the roofs relatively intact? If the buildings are at least dry inside, they should be fairly stable. If the rain is getting in, these houses won't last long.
Oh great, just what we need.
ANOTHER SUPERMARKET. *rolleyes*