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December 18, 2007
Inside Building 1 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
The former barracks building at the Brooklyn Navy Yard—known as Building 1—is now being turned into office and creative space by Steiner Studios as part of the company's larger expansion that will likely include the Naval Hospital as well. Nathan Kensinger, a photographer known for his ability to access hard to reach spots like underground train shops, has just posted a series of photos from inside Building 1 that are well worth checking out.
Brooklyn Navy Yard: Building 1 [Kensinger]
Naval Hospital to Go Hollywood (East) [Brownstoner]
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Comments
Great spaces. Won't it be great to hear it's being made accessible and affordable for individual artists and not only for the big creative studios who already have big money. That will be the day.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 12:19 PM
Great shots. His other photography is also very good.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a building can go from being "alive" and in use, to having the paint peel off the walls, the ceilings collapse, and the whole structure look like the set of a post apocalyptic movie. It doesn't take long at all.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at December 18, 2007 12:22 PM
12:22 That's what happens when a bldg's derelict for over 80 yrs. Nothing to do with special effects.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 12:28 PM
Actually 12:19, there are several artists who have studios in the Navy Yard and the rents are competitively priced.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 12:47 PM
12:19 yes, there a few bldgs with many artists, but specifically some of the long derelict bldgs could be (and could've been) turned into usable spaces at affordable rents.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 1:01 PM
Building 1 is one of the great buildings in the Navy Yard. It is an Art Moderne office building with rounded corners and ribbon windows. On the roof,it has two mini-Eiffel towers connected by a catwalk. It looks like the 1930's logo for RKO. I hope they do not ruin it with new crappy windows. The old steel factory style windows are great. It is not a landmark although it is the finest building of its kind in Brooklyn. its only rival, style-wise, in the whole city is the Starret-Lehigh building in Chelsea.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 1:06 PM
1:01 - all of the spaces in the yard that could be turned into artists spaces without using subisdies, have been. The Navy Yard is in the process of seeking subisidies to convert other spaces, but as you can imagine, you don't get all those subsidies at once. A little bit here and a little bit there. Most recently a whole building was converted to artists studion near the Cumberland Street gate (building 30) using some federal funds. Converting building 1 will also likely involve some combination of City and federal subsidy together with private investment by the Steiners.
1:06 - Though building 1 is not landmarked, it is part of a state historic district which means that any renovations to the building will have to be approved by the NY State Historic Preservation Office. So the chances of the building keeping it's beauty are pretty high.
-Ella
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 1:20 PM
Ella
The whole Navy yard is on the state and National registers of Historic Places?
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 4:52 PM
4:52 - Not true. Look more closely. The are two historic districts in the Yard. One is centered on the the Hospital Campus (and includes building 1). The other one is Admiral's Row, but the Admiral's row district doesn't offer any protection since the State Historic Preservation office has already determined that preservation is not feasible (despite all the hubbub that's going on now about Admiral's Row - this determination was made in the late 90's).
The rest of the yard is not in a state historic district.
-Ella
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 5:37 PM
Ella, so building 1 is on the register as part of a district. That is so interesting.
Hopefully that means that they will take some care in the renovations, although as I understand the regs. if private moneys are used for the renovation, the state would have no role whatsoever.
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 7:30 PM
7:30 - Normally that would be true, but since this was owned by the feds, they made it part of the requirement of the transfer to the Navy Yard that any "contributing" buildings in the district would still be subject to SHPO approval if they undergo any sort of renovation - even if all the money used to renovate it is private. Building 1 is certainly contributing.
-Ella
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 7:36 PM
So Ella, who are you really?
You have to be somebody I know.
Are you affiliated in any way with the
MAS? the LPC? the FBI?
Posted by: guest at December 18, 2007 8:52 PM
Ella disgusts me
Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 1:16 AM
Hence, corporate beaurocracy. So much legalese speak why so complicated?
Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 9:42 AM
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