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Yesterday's complete collapse of a four-story building in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn was somewhat of a miracle: Only four people had minor injuries, while firefighters, who arrived after reports of falling bricks, were still standing outside 493 Myrtle Avenue right before the collapse. City Councilwoman Letitia James told the NY Times, "If any of the men had gone in, it would have been a Father’s Day disaster." A witness from the corner described the collapse to the Daily News, "It started coming from the side, like dust. Then ... the whole thing just fell. It fell like in layers, one, two, three."
From Google Street View: 493 Myrtle Avenue was the white building
The buiding's owner William Sang had been cited or a crack in an exterior wall last month; the building was apparently undergoing repairs for the one-half inch to inch wide crack that ran from the first to third floor. Sang told the Times that he was given time to fix the crack—which he says had been there for 10 years (he's owned 493 Myrtle since 2006)—and that the Department of Buildings told him, "There was a crack but that it was O.K. to have tenants.” To the Post, Sang blamed the work being done on a neighboring building, while investigators suspect that the heavy rain may have also contributed to the situation.
A neighbor told the Post the building was very unstable, "The building has been shaking... for past six months. If you sat in my living room next door the building used to shake. You know like a miniature earthquake. I guess it shook until it fell. Every few minutes it used to shake."
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Does anyone here know if that's the same building that was the old German bar named Bartel's that later became Marshalls?
I lived in a dorm from 2002-2004, that faced those exact buildings. I don't remember a bar ever being there, but maybe that was before my time there. I remember the shop under that building being some kind of clothing store.
I'm talking late sixties early seventies.
ooooohh....nevermind.
According to yesterday's item linked to above, and the pre-collapse pic on that page, "Vesper Bar & Lounge was on the first floor."
Judging by that photo, in which the bar's windows are boarded over, it's been closed for some time but it also looks like it's been there for years so could have had another name before Vesper's.
It was a bar known as 'The Romanian Gardens', then later just 'The Gardens' back in the 90's.
Concerning the cause of the collapse, it's good to see they finally cracked the case.
I can't believe the f-cking DOB for allowing this. They came to inspect my building, saw the cracks running up and down the walls with new ones appearing daily, and did the same exact thing: told out idiot landlord to seal the cracks. Our landlord has had several citations and when the FDNY came to visit they called the place a "firetrap". So, I called the DOB and they tell me that there's nothing I can do but keep submitting complaints until someone shows up to inspect it. They told me it may take months. Thankfully I'm moving next month, but my fellow tenants are still waiting for the damn DOB to come back. After that experience, I can't say I'm surprised to see something like this happen. So fortunate that no one died.
Yes, water tends to that to things held together by friction.
"Unfortunately for the Nunezes and other 491 Myrtle residents, their building will have to be razed."
Am I missing something? Do I not understand what "razed" means? Last I checked, their homes have crumbled to dust and they need to start over anyway.
You're not confused about 'razed'. You're mistaken about the building in question. 493 is the one that collapsed. 491 is the building next door that took the brunt of the collapse, and was irrecoverably damaged in the process.
Are you serious with this headline: "Rains May Have Contributed To Brooklyn Building Collapse"
Guess what- rain may have contributed to life on this planet as well?
In the 21st Century, a building should not copllapse because of some rain.
I guess the ground to roof crack visible on Google Maps streetview (and who knows how long ago that was taken!)had nothing to do with it.
The DOB and NYC are tedy bears without teeth. Owners/landlords need to be given extremely tight deadlines to complete repairs and stricter sfety standards. After this time or after a few violation, they need to go to jail for a long time and the city needs to then autmatically sieze the property.
It's really time for the bulls**t to end. Now!
Infrastructure much?
The DOB is corrupt. All they want is more buildings built. They don't care about people, only money. I bet many of their inspectors take $$$ under the table. Sickening, really.
Getting back to the bar aspect of the building. Does anyone remember going into the bar, and if I remember correctly it would be off to your left as you entered? A dark wood kind of turn of the century bar.
I'm curious because it was one of Pratt's landmark bars back in the late 60's.
Lucius, an older German gentleman, and a great guy, was the bartender there and was mugged and killed late one night at the Clinton/Washington Avenue G train station.
I see the area is still up and coming after all these years.
I went in there in the 90's a handful of times. Yes, you entered off to the left. By the time I went there, it had definitely been renovated. It wasn't what I would describe as a dark wood, turn of the century bar. Of the two bars locally available to Pratt students at the time, this was the more frat oriented of the two. It had a pool table and some picnic tables outside.