Details on Carroll Street Collapse

The Times has some more information–or at least a theory–about the causes of the building collapse at 241 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens eight days ago:

The cause of the collapse is under investigation, but Mr. Lynch [That’s Tim Lynch, head of DOB’s forensic engineering unit] said last week that one possible factor was the empty space next to the wall that came down. Nineteenth-century town houses, he explained, were generally built in clusters of three or four homes called sister houses, and the adjoining structures were a central part of what kept them standing. While the brownstone to the left of 241 Carroll Street still stands, the one to its right was torn down in the mid-1950s to make way for the school, Public School 58. Over time, very slowly, the lonely brownstone without its right-hand neighbor might have become unstable. “It’s closing in on 200 years old, so it has performance issues like the rest of us,” Mr. Lynch said. “You’ve got to remember, Napoleon wasn’t dead that long when they built this thing.”

The four-story brownstone is currently being taken down by hand. The family, which paid $1.54 million for the property in 2004, plans to build a new house which will be constrained by a 50-foot height restriction but now landmarking rules.
Amid Collapsing Walls, a Bit of Luck for 3 Families [NY Times]
241 Carroll Street Partially Collapses, Demo to Come [Brownstoner]
Photo from Pardon Me For Asking