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December 12, 2006

Back When They Knew How to Make a Warehouse

storage
They don't make warehouses like this anymore! Despite the small number of windows, the Gothic warehouse at 491 Bergen Street manages to still be quite elegant. What first caught our eye though was the original lettering on the facade that reads "Peter F. Reilly Warehouses & Vaults". As far as we can tell, it's still used for self storage. Can anyone confirm? How are their rates? On the jump, a picture of the entire building. GMAP

warehouse




Posted by Brownstoner at 9:34 AM | Comments (14)
Categories: Architecture

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please, PLEASE stop using the term "on the jump"

Posted by: Anonymous at December 12, 2006 10:00 AM

It's still a warehouse and it's across the street from Ratner's eminent domain "blighted" neighborhood.Try and figure that one out. On the side of the building is an old painted sign saying fireproof vaults. Wish I could say the same for Ratner's proposed terror target "Atlantic Yards"

Posted by: Arnelo at December 12, 2006 10:04 AM

My husband and I used to live around the corner from there and could see that building from our livingroom window. It's really a gorgeous old building. We never did figure out what it was used for, although it's clearly not residential (all the lights would be out every night, except the neon lights in the stairwell).

Posted by: sylvia at December 12, 2006 10:04 AM

i love this building. the largely blank facade is amazing. i hope nobody ever tries to convert this to residential so that is never lost. love love love this building.

Posted by: janelle at December 12, 2006 10:13 AM

There is a very similar (almost identical) building in Manhattan, I think it's on 2nd Ave and 61st St. It also says "fireproof vaults" and it is still used as a warehouse.

Posted by: anonymous at December 12, 2006 10:30 AM

Yeah. I was just thinking how this neighborhood needed more windowless fireproof warehouses (albeit nice ones). How about a slaughterhouse (preferably italianate) and an oil refinery (federal style, please).

I like this building, but a few windows aren't going to kill it. Buildings aren't just for us to admire from the outside.

Posted by: Anonymous at December 12, 2006 11:12 AM

There is also a gorgeous storage facility (name escapes me now) on Flatbush near Delkalb (Eastside).

Love how even a entry on old storage facility becomes forum to attack AY.

Posted by: David at December 12, 2006 11:12 AM

You're right David, it is hillarious. These AY opponents are just fanatical. What is with that comment about Ratner using emminent domain because the neighborhood is blighted? Has the city done that since the slum clearence and housing project building boom of the 1950's? Someone is blissfully unaware of reality.

Anyway, fireproof storage facilities were built all throughout the city back when, umm, fires were a bigger threat! They don't matter so much anymore, and most of these older buildings are obsolete anyway. What architectural details were put in were there simply to make it more attractive to people nearby. It wasn't built as a warehouse, but as a place for regular folks to put their stuff.

This building should be condemned. It has to functional use and is not particularly noteworthy from an aesthetic standpoint, and the continued housing crisis demands obsolete buildings be replaced with apartment buildings.

Posted by: Eryximachus at December 12, 2006 1:06 PM

Actually its continued use as a storage facility - along with the sale of the similar building on Flatbush to one of the big storage facility companies (and continued use as such) indicates that these buildings are functional and not obsolete.

Posted by: David at December 12, 2006 1:30 PM

I live nearby. I've seen boxes (with I assume files) from financial companies being moved in and out. Over the weekend it appeared a billboard was being painted on the south side, facing Flatbush. I saw the numbers 4444 in green.

Posted by: Miles at December 12, 2006 1:47 PM

Oh crap! 4444 is the sign of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I guess we can stop worrying about Atlantic Yards.

Posted by: Jack at December 12, 2006 1:59 PM

Brilliant comments Arnelo. A suggestion. If you don't want to live near a "terror target" move out of NYC.

Posted by: Anonymous at December 12, 2006 2:35 PM

2nd and 61st and this building=art storage.

Posted by: Anonymous at December 13, 2006 12:49 AM

Certainly more brilliant than Eryximachus who claims that fires were a bigger threat in the past and don't matter so much now. I am amazed at the stupidity and ignorance he can display and I can only conclude he writes such outrageously ignorant drivel for the shock value. And if you think fires are no longer a real issue, think back to about 5 years ago. If nothing else you would understand that newer buildings present other, much more dangerous realties in fire response. But then, Eryximachus, reality has never been the issue for you. Aren't you special.

Posted by: Anonymous at December 13, 2006 2:31 PM

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