Brooklyn Museum Click! Exhibit

The Brooklyn Museum will be exhibiting one of my photographs of Brooklyn's industrial waterfront at their new exhibit "Click!" from June 27th to August 10th. The museum is just down the street from my current solo show at the Brooklyn Library, "Twilight on the Waterfront" which will be up until August 30th.

The theme of "Click!" was "the changing face of Brooklyn." My contribution was a photograph of the Todd Shipyard Drydock in Red Hook, which was destroyed by a new Ikea furniture store. Also included in the exhibit are my frequent photography collaborators Sam Horine and Nate Dorr with their photos of the Red Hook waterfront, which can be seen here and here. Additionally, my friends and fellow photographers Ian Ference, Clara Daly, Tracy Collins, Elizabeth Weinberg and Sonja Shield each have photos in the exhibit that take a unique look at Brooklyn's changing industrial and waterfront neighborhoods.

Feel free to join me, Nate and Sam at a viewing of the exhibit this Saturday at 4pm, and also at the upcoming Target First Saturday event on the evening of July 5th!

Kent Avenue Powerhouse

June 25th, 2008 -

The Kent Avenue Powerhouse - also known as the BRT Powerhouse - is now being demolished. Despite a general public outcry, including a petition and a blog and articles in the NY Times, Gothamist, Curbed, Brownstoner, The Brooklyn Paper, and in many other media outlets, work has proceeded at a rapid pace. The southern third of the complex, where a huge and ornate hall was located, has already been destroyed. These photos document the state of demolition in that section and show what remains in the two other sections of the building - the northern hall, full of equipment, and a second large hall located in the middle of the complex.

These photos were taken on June 21st. A recent set of photos from May 2008 by the LTV Squad shows what the southern hall looked like before it was destroyed. It is clearly evident that Con Edison has already demolished a major portion of the building, and will soon demolish the rest.

The Kent Avenue Powerhouse was built during 1905 and 1906 to power streetcars and trains. It was sold to Con Edison in 1950 and remained in operation until 1999. In 2008, it was labeled as a candidate for the National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Historic Preservation Office. For more history on the plant, please read the Williamsburg Power Station chapter from Thomas Edward Murray's book "Electrical Power Plants" and visit one of the first and best stories on the demolition at I'm Not Sayin, I'm Just Sayin.

Northern Hall

Northern Hall Basement

Basement Furnace

Central Hall

Central Hall and Balcony

Abandoned Offices

Demolition

Basement and Demolition

4th Floor Balcony

Southern Hall Demolition

Destruction of the Southern Third

Southern Wall

Rooftop View

Sunset, Shroud and Navy Yard

"Twilight on the Waterfront" at the Brooklyn Library

From June 18 through August 30th, the Brooklyn Public Library is featuring an exhibition of my photographs titled "Twilight on the Waterfront: Brooklyn's Vanishing Industrial Heritage." This exhibit documents off-limits industrial sites along Brooklyn's waterfront, shedding light on what Brooklyn has lost to development over the last five years. The exhibit is drawn from a long-term photography project on Brooklyn's industrial waterfront and is on display at the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza, in the Grand Lobby.

"Twilight on the Waterfront" was described by John Del Signore of Gothamist as "an impressive body of work" which "vividly documents the accidental beauty of decaying buildings." The exhibit was also featured on Brownstoner, which described these photographs as "urban guerrilla" photography and "well worth checking out."

Brooklyn's entire industrial waterfront was recently listed as one of America's "11 most endangered" historic places by the National Trust For Historic Preservation. Ironically, this exhibit opened the same day as the new Red Hook Ikea, and features photos from the historic Todd Shipyard and the Revere Sugar Refinery, two structures destroyed during Ikea's construction process.

Also, until mid July, my frequent collaborator Nate Dorr is having a photo exhibit at the 139th St. Branch Gallery. Nate Dorr - who also posts as Mercurialn on flickr - has been intensively photographing New York City during the last 3 years. Together, we have documented many locations along the edges of the city, including The Revere Sugar Refinery, inside the Atlantic Yards, and - in our film collaboration Covered Tracks - The Freedom Tunnel. Nate's exhibition features some truly great Urban Exploration photographs, as well as a dynamic set of photographs covering Brooklyn's underground rock-and-roll scene.

Portrait of Nate Dorr

Urbex Photography by Nate Dorr


139th St. Branch Gallery

Floyd Bennett Airfield

May 15th, 2008 -

Across the street from Dead Horse Bay lies Floyd Bennett Airfield, a part of the National Parks Service's neglected Gateway National Recreation Area. This abandoned airport houses decaying hangars, cracked runways, a ransacked police station, closed-off tunnels, lost boats and antique airplanes, all visible from its empty control tower. Floyd Bennett was New York City's first municipal airport and opened in 1931. Like JFK Airport, it is located on the shores of Jamaica Bay, a vast nature preserve. Its long history includes record-breaking flights by Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart and "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Today, it hosts cricket players, a large community garden and a shiny new sports complex that has changed the quiet nature of the park.

Department of the Interior

Collapsed Interior

Swim/Nadar

Police Station



Square Windows

Flushing Town Hall



Graffiti Room

Hangar Installation

Boiler Room


Bomber


Nose Gunner

Hangar

Brooklyn Army Terminal

April 30th, 2008 -

The Brooklyn Army Terminal was built in 1919 and designed by architect Cass Gilbert. At completion, it was 5 million square feet in size and covered 97 acres of Bay Ridge waterfront. It was used during WWII to ship out over 3 million troops, including Elvis. Today it is owned by New York City and used by over 70 tenants. Like Bush Terminal to the north and the Bay Ridge freight tracks directly south, the Army Terminal is managed by the NYEDC, a corporation responsible for much of the recent redevelopment of New York City's waterfront.

Bushwick Inlet

April 15th 2008 -

Bushwick Inlet is a lonely East River cove in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Bordered by the Bayside Oil Terminal and a large collection of collapsed piers, it is currently a quiet refuge for birds. Like Bush Terminal and Hunters Point South, this is one of New York City's last great pieces of fenced-off industrial wilderness. Bushwick Inlet has a long history as an industrial site, including the building and launching of the ironclad Monitor, which fought a famous naval battle in the Civil War. Today, all this is overgrown with trees, but in the near future the inlet may become a 28-acre city park. For more on its proposed development, see Gothamist, Curbed, Brownstoner and the Gowanus Lounge.

Long Island City: Hunter's Point South

March 26, 2008 -

Across from the United Nations in Long Island City, Queens, lies one of the last empty pieces of land on the East River. This 24 acre lot boasts dramatic views of the Empire State building from 30-foot-high cliffs, rolling hills covered in wild trees, and more access to the river's edge than any other site in Queens. Currently it is an idyllic, private barbeque spot, with homemade swings and benches looking out across the water at Manhattan's midtown rush.

Work has now begun to develop this plot of land into a massive housing complex. Given the name Hunter's Point South, this site is managed by the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC). It is an extension of Queens West, the monolithic state-owned luxury-housing development to the north. The proposed map of HP South includes at least 13 high rise residences and three new city streets. Controversy over whether any of the 5,000 proposed housing units will be "affordable" has been reported in The Daily News and The Real Deal.

The EDC is resolutely focused on developing New York's few remaining industrial waterfront areas, with other projects including multimillion dollar projects in Sunset Park, the South Bronx, Staten Island and Willett's Point.

Abandoned Pier

Homemade Swing

Bench's View

Gramercy

Road to Queens West

Cliff and Woods

Danger on the Waterfront

Brooklyn Navy Yard: Admirals' Row

March 13th, 2008 -

Admirals' Row is located in the southeast corner of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This strip of six buildings was abandoned by the Navy in the 1970's and left to decay. Today, the interiors of several buildings are in a state of irreparable collapse. Fires and rain have destroyed roofs and floors while squatters have left mountains of debris. Vines and trees have moved indoors. Windows and walls have exploded inwards. Entire floors are missing.

However, some of the buildings are in remarkably good condition. Their staircases, light fixtures, plasterwork, shelves, mantlepieces and wood floors are only in need of polish and paint. The beauty of these architectural details, when compared to the complete devastation in other buildings, is a stunning indictment of the Navy's neglect.

These historic buildings now stand empty and quiet, though their demolition is being planned, to create a new supermarket. This controversial idea has been featured in the NY Times and written about at length on Brownstoner and Curbed. More photos of development in the Brooklyn Navy Yard can be seen at this blog here and here.

Historical information about Admirals' Row can be found at www.officersrow.org. These photos were taken in conjunction with the photoblog The Kingston Lounge, and in association with Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass, both of which have more photos of Admirals' Row.

Open Door

Pink Bathroom

Kitchen Detail

Fallen Plaster and Steps

Blue Room

Stairs

Entry Steps

Total Devastation

Kitchen Cabinets

Three Floor Collapse

Grand Ballroom

Dropped Ceiling

Fixture and Wall

Squatters' Home Steps

Burnt Attic

Vine, Collapse, Fireplace

Daylight Savings

Bronx Kill

February 28th, 2008 -

The Bronx Kill is a neglected, inaccessible waterway between Randalls Island and the Bronx neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Port Morris. It is an untamed waterfront, sheltering wild dogs and homeless camps. Ruined bridges and old piers line its banks, alongside freight train tracks which pass underneath sections of the Triborough Bridge and the Hellgate Bridge. At one point, a new footbridge and a multi-million dollar waterpark were planned for its shores, but those plans have not yet come to pass. Heavy industry still separates the surrounding community from this tidal strait.

Port Morris: Obstructed View



Hellgates End



Industry and Tracks

Bronx Kill Ruins

Under the Triborough



Dark Water

Ruined Pier, Manhattan Views

Dead Horse Bay

February 12, 2008 -

Dead Horse Bay lies at the southern edge of Brooklyn, across the street from Floyd Bennett Airfield. It is one of the oldest industrial areas in Brooklyn and a millstone from a 17th century Dutch mill still can be found inland, just off the shore. Dead Horse Bay's name came from the carcasses that would wash up on its shores from a nearby horse rendering plant. Once a marshland, the area was slowly filled with rubbish. The landfill was capped after the refuse of the 1920's and 1930's filled the marsh. In the 1950's the cap burst, spewing the artifacts of a different era onto the beach. Now glass bottles, shoe leather, plastic toys, old bones and handguns lie revealed along the waters edge.