The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its 20th annual list of the 11 Most Endangered Places in the United States and Brooklyn's Industrial Waterfront topped the 2007 list of sites. The organization describes the industrial waterfront's history:
For more than a century, the New York City region was one of this country’s dominant manufacturing hubs. Due to its location on the East River and the New York Harbor, Brooklyn was the city’s industrial center with scores of maritime operations, factories, warehouses and sugar refineries. In the second half of the twentieth century, industry declined, and what’s left of that striking architectural and historical legacy is now at risk. Also at risk are the places that make Brooklyn “work,” the buildings and sites that house manufacturing and industrial jobs.According to the National Trust for Historical Preservation, developers eager to cash in on a hot real estate market threaten to destroy Brooklyn's industrial legacy and the organization urges people to encourage Mayor Bloomberg to adequately fund New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission. The New York Times looks at the Trust's designation and notes that in 2005, 1,740 new building permits and 1,924 demolition permits were issued in Brooklyn. We have a list and photographs of the endangered Brooklyn sites after the jump.
