Building of the Day: 645 Grand Avenue
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: 645 Grand Avenue Name: Former 80th Precinct, now NYPD Administrative Facility Neighborhood: Prospect Heights/Crown Heights border Year Built:…
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: 645 Grand Avenue
Name: Former 80th Precinct, now NYPD Administrative Facility
Neighborhood: Prospect Heights/Crown Heights border
Year Built: 1890’s
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No
Why chosen: Back in the old days, many of our police precincts, like the National Guard armories built around the same time, looked like medieval fortresses guarding the town from invaders, a deliberate use of architecture to evoke a psychological response.
The 80th was in use for about 80 years, sitting formidably on this busy intersection. In 1951, returning World War II veteran, Benjamin Ward, became the first black police officer to be assigned to the 80th Precinct. It was not a pleasant experience for him, as he was not welcomed by his fellow officers, or the community.
For the first 3 years of his stint there, he was never assigned a locker, and had to dress at home, and ride to and from work in uniform on the subway. He persevered, however, rose through the ranks, and became the first African-American police commissioner of New York City in 1984, under Ed Koch.
By that time, massive budget cuts had caused the shrinking of the police force and its resources at a time when the city needed them the most. In the mid 1970’s, the 80th Precinct was abolished, their territory covered by the 77th, in Crown Heights.
Today, the building is now a NYPD administrative facility of some kind, and is also said to have some kind of Special Victims Unit attached to it as well, although that has not been verified, and there is no signage visible.
The building is quite impressive still, with terra-cotta trim, and a beautiful wrought iron clock face on the Park Place side. There is also a stable attached to the back on the same side.
The ivy growing up the side softens this fortress, and reminds us that function does not have to dictate an absence of aesthetic beauty. The architects of most of the new precinct buildings in this city seem to have forgotten this.
[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]
My father worked there in the 60’s. It is the old 80 PCT or the “Old 8-0” as he called it. It was falling apart. I remember being in there when I was a kid. Rats were huge. The original purpose for the building was a fire house. The top round “crows nest” is actually a fire tower. Because it was built before the invention of phones, firemen used to take turns standing up there looking for smoke from fire. My Dad said they used to go up there to get some fresh air. There were actually beds where the port hole is on the tower portion. The arched doorways were actually where they kept the horses. He said the pole was even still in the building. But the precinct was abolished (they just split the territory up amongst other precincts) in 1972. It sounds sexier to say that it was a castle or fortress, but it was a firehouse when it was originally built. Hope that solved the mystery.
When I asked cops at the 77th, they said there were detectives’ offices in there. They mentioned special victims, but didn’t answer when I asked directly about the rumor I’ve heard from a couple of neighbors that there are narcotics detectives based in there as well.
Love this building. I live a block away and pass it at least once a day. It was also the setting for some of the early scenes in “Serpico.”
sex crimes unit for sure, and maybe other units also.
It seems to be occupied by detectives – the robbery division perhaps?
“Back in the old days, many of our police precincts, like the National Guard armories built around the same time, looked like medieval fortresses guarding the town from invaders, a deliberate use of architecture to evoke a psychological response…”
Weren’t the armories actually built to guard against “invaders” from Ellis Island, i.e. the laboring immigrants? I imagine the police precincts were also built to intimate the immigrant underclass.
It would be interesting if you could fill in more the political context of how these buildings came to be. After all, armories were hardly needed throughout NYC to repel foreign invaders in the 1890s.
Montrose, thank you!
I went to a lovely wedding on the Spanish island of Mallorca. I had never been there. The main city, Palma, is a dream. Gothic, neo-gothic and art nouveau architecture. The scenery was breathtaking too. It was a four-hour high-speed ferry ride from the port of Barcelona. We stayed for a good chunk of time.
So happy to have been there, so glad to be back.
There used to be a precinct substation in that building. I think it was renovated in the 90s–I remember the press releases when the substation was opened.
I beleive the Cold Case Squad works out of the old 8-0.