Some more site history

January 31, 2007

Site History

Over the past week I’ve learned a bit more about the history of my site. The existing structure that is on the site and that I’m going to intervene in is much older than I originally thought.

The existing structure on the site that I will be intervening in was not built as a light industrial building as I first though, but rather as the Long Island Savings Bank, built in 1876. (Wood beams and cast iron columns? Any thoughts?) The photograph below is from 1896. Note the buildings standing on the west side of my site.

This next photograph is from around 1930. The buildings on the west side of my site were demolished in 1907 to make way for the construction of a bridge that connects Hunter’s Point to Greenpoint. Since then, this bridge has been demolished (1965) and replaced by the nearby Pulaski Bridge.

Below is a photograph I took at my site in December 2006. While some of the buildings on the site have been demolished, the Long Island Savings Bank Building is still standing. In its more recent history it was converted to light industrial use as the Cangro Transmission Work Shop. Digging into the Building Information System also revealed an occupancy violation in that the second, third, and fourth floors of the building illegally housed an architecture office and a small job training school. The approach to the bridge has since become the Vernon Mall, a small “sitting park.”