Friday, June 24, 2011

Purchase Building's Boiler House Lives On in Brooklyn Bridge Plaza As 'Smokestack Building'

The historic New York City Department of Purchase Storehouse, known as the Purchase Building, has been torn down, but its boiler house lives on in the newly renovated Brooklyn Bridge Plaza at Fulton Ferry Landing, next to DUMBO.

According to the NY Times, in 1977, when the Purchase Building was declared part of the Fulton Ferry Historic District, preservation officials noted the boiler house, with its "boldly designed, tiered and faceted chimney-stack."

In 2006 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to demolish the Purchase Building to make way for Brooklyn Bridge Park. But the boiler house survived and has been renovated.

Now called the "Smokestack Building" by Brooklyn Bridge Park folks, the unusual little structure will be used as "a future park concession," according to BBP. In the photo above, you can see that a service window has been grafted onto the building.

Photos by MK Metz

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2 comments:

Reginald said...

This is really bad preservation. Although I opposed the demolition of the Purchase Building, tearing the whole thing down would have been preferable to this.

bj said...

It does look very lonely all by itself.