Harlem Landmark To Lose Two Floors

The landmark Corn Exchange Bank Building on 125th Street in Harlem used to be a picturesque structure, but now it's one of the most visible eyesores in the neighborhood. The building, "an 1883-84 Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival structure," according to the Times, will soon lose its top two floors; a decision recently made by the Department of Buildings who found it unsafe. A "fire caused by homeless folk" already aided in the roof collapsing, and there are trees growing inside, according to one neighborhood blogger.

In 2003 the decaying landmark still had some hope, when community advocate Ethel Bates purchased it from the city with plans to rehabilitate it; needless to say that never happened and in January of this year a judge ruled that the city could repossess it, but it was too late. John Weiss of the Landmarks Preservation Commission said, “It’s just really sad. When someone comes in and they have a presentation saying, ‘This is our plan to completely renovate the building,’ it gives us some hope and confidence. But maybe that can be a false comfort.”