Yesterday The Sun published a wonderful piece on Prospect Heights by Francis Morrone that highlights the neighborhood’s enduring charm and architectural splendors. Morrone notes that Prospect Heights is sure to be named a historic district at some point, and he praises Vanderbilt’s mellow charm, the well-preserved row houses on Prospect Place and St. Mark’s Avenue, and the industrial grandeur surrounding the rail yards, which includes a structure that’s not long for this world:

A plaintive note: The Ward Bakery, at 800 Pacific Street, clearly visible to the south across the yards, dates from 1911. It’s one of the most beautiful of the city’s early reinforced-concrete factories, sheathed in white brick and white terra-cotta that were meant to convey the utter cleanliness of the bakery’s operations, which involved producing 250,000 loaves of bread a day. The bakery operated (as Pechter Fields) until 1995. At more than a million square feet in floor area, it seems insane that it could not have been saved and adaptively reused in any new development around here. Rather, it is being torn down.

Sound familiar? The whole piece is well worth a read.
Prospect Heights Grandeur [The Sun]
Photo by threecee.