While riding towards the Manhattan Bridge the other day I could not help but notice a very long “taped up” message on the brick wall that marks out the corner of Flushing and Navy. At first glance the words looked so uniform and unassuming that one might think a City official put them up herself. A closer look reveals a different story that calls for halting the destruction of “Admiral’s Row.” Built during the Civil War the houses have been vacant since the 70’s falling into a beautiful state of decay and disrepair. During the summer months the houses are blanketed by foilage, barely visible from the road. But as the year goes on and the leaves fall the houses come into view once again–a quiet mystery making little sense in a Brooklyn that has been witness to such unbound and at times dysfunctional development. The city is in the process of handing over the property to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation which has promised to demolish the buildings in favor of a supermarket. The neigborhood actually does need a supermarket but is this the only possible site for one? One has to wonder about the hidden handshakes behind the proposed development of a site that has been struggling for 40 years to achieve landmark status. Although this is a thorny issue it seems that in an ideal world the site could be preserved and a supermarket could be built nearby, but as always development has an impaired vision, especially with regard to history.
The plea on the wall reads as follows–
“NOT DEATH ROW! A REPRIEVE, THEY’RE INNOCENT! COME VISIT ADMIRALS ROW NATIONAL HERITAGE SITE, THE UNITED STATES NAVY’S PRIDE 1864 until 1967. LOOK INTO THE PAST AND KNOW THEIR BEAUTY AND HISTORY. IMAGINE THESE PRISTINE, MANICURED MANSIONS WITH FAMILIES, CEREMONIES, RECEPTIONS, AND ON . . . LANDMARK ADMIRALS ROW! PRESERVE OUR NATIONAL HERITAGE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. DO NOT ALLOW DEMOLITION HERE! THIS IS NOT A LOCAL ISSUE! GET LOUD!”
My only question is how can this be anything but a local issue?
(Since the day I took the pictures a few more words have gone up specifically asking Governor Pataki to landmark the site while questioning just how such development could occur during an election year?)
