From Gothamist:The landmark Corn Exchange Bank Building on 125th Street in Harlem used to be a picturesque structure, but now it's one of the most visible eyesores in the neighborhood. The building, "an 1883-84 Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival structure," according to the Times, will soon lose its top two floors; a decision recently made by the Department of Buildings who found it unsafe. A "fire caused by homeless folk" already aided in the roof collapsing, and there are trees growing inside, according to one neighborhood blogger.
In 2003 the decaying landmark still had some hope, when community advocate Ethel Bates purchased it from the city with plans to rehabilitate it; needless to say that never happened and in January of this year a judge ruled that the city could repossess it, but it was too late.
11 comments:
There is no excuse for this.
I am tired of getting big ticket fundraisers from a small group of preservation organizations that seem to do little more than give each other awards and expand already existing districts.
Preservation in NYC is a spent force. We need to rethink from top to bottom.
Like more of a spent farce..."Missing Foundation"...all of those alphabet soup organizations.
Oh...they're great at compiling lengthy studies that could eat up a ream of paper1
LPC, MAS, HDC, CECPP, etc must be on LSD or something!
Prissy, prim little people who wouldn't speak above a whisper...except when its whine and cheese time!
Why bother? At this rate, there won't be anything in this city to preserve in a year from now, especially if Bloomburg wins an illegal third term.
At this point losing two more floors is going to make it look like an amputated eyesore...a vestige of its former self.
Take it down. After all...it's not Notre Dame Cathedral.
This is the "local blogger" mentioned in the article. My blog, Harlem Bespoke has been covering the corn exchange building and everyone has been pulling photos from my posts for this story. There are more recent photos of the demolition taken last week and we will be following it through each phase. As far as rebuilding it, just look at the octagon building on Roosevelt Island. The entire Octagon dome was missing completely and they reconstructed everything. The base of the corn Exchange is still very intricate and substantial since it is equal to about three floors altogether. http://www.harlembespoke.blogspot.com/
Yeah...and the base of my cock is intricate too...as each year's new wrinkle appears on it.
That doesn't mean it can f--k the way it used to.
Time to move on and give up this "corny" piece of what?
The "Octagon" is unique. This remainder is not.
The NYS Pavilion deserves landmarking more than this Victorian ruin.
The city has plenty of landmarked Victorian buildings, but there's our borough's Jetson-esque towers are one of a kind.
Though it did inspire the CN Tower and Sapce Needle, which are treasured by their respective cities.
Is this a capital "L" Landmark (officially designated municipal) or just a small "l" landmark...one that is locally noted?
Save it !! More and more that are not protected disappear every year...Protect this one..It is beautiful and can be restored to its' former splendour. Harlem needs as much beauty saved as is possible...And this is possible. Hang on Harlem !!!!!!!
This is an official NYC Landmark so its rather insulting that the city let it deteriorate this far.
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