The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 349 Park Place, corner of Underhill Ave.
Name: Mount Prospect Laboratory, now Community School District 13 offices
Neighborhood: Prospect Heights (Prospect Heights Historic District)
Year Built: 1938
Architectural Style: Moderne
Architects: Aymar Embury II

Why chosen: The Laboratory was built by the Dept. of Water Supply, Gas & Electric, of the City of NY to test water samples from the city’s reservoirs and waterways. Built at the end of the Depression with WPA funds, it replaced a lab built for the same purposes in 1897. It remained the main testing lab in the city until the 1960′s. The Board of Ed has had it ever since, and it is now offices. Embury was one of the giants of NYC public works, designing or supervising the building of the Triborough Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Orchard Beach, Prospect and Central Park Zoos, Bryant Park, and McCarren Play Center, all under Robert Moses. GMAP