/'

A Historia!'s Pleafor thePreservation

of theTobaccoWarehouse
Ruin
TheTobaccoIaspectionWarehousqoo thenorthsideof WaterStreetbetweenNew
Dock andDock steets in Brooklyn,wasbuilt in c. 1860andwasorigitrally a five-story
strlctule reducedat somepoitrtitr the20Incenturyto two stodes.It onc€hadan
appearance asimposingasthat ofthe adjacentEmpireStoresto the east.For manyyears
the TobaccoInspectionWarehouse wasoperatedby theprivatefirm of David Dows&
Co. andwasknovn asthe FultonStores.To theadjacentdoch knownasthe Tobacco
Dook,camelighte$ fiom New JerseybearingfieightsoftobaccofrortrKentucky,
Illinois, Irldian4 Missouri,Virgini4 andTennessee thal hadbeensetrtby train to tle
westernshoieofthe HudsoaRiver.By 1872the FultonStoreshousedabout20%08,000
hogsheads) ofthe total tobaccocominginto New York City ard Brooklyn.By 1890,tle
only tobaccoihspectionwarehouses h operationin thethenindependent city ofBroollln
weretheFultonStoresandRedHook's StanahanStores,at Atlanlio Dock.

Therearesevexalootablefeaturesofthe TobaccoInspectionWaxehouse thathave

commended it for laadnark stafus.Justasmos!ofour surviving"Dutch farmhouses"
werebuilt in theEnglishcolonialperiod somostofour "Civil War-erawa.rehouses"
wercbuilt afterthe Civil War; theTobaccoInspectionWarehouse is orc ofthe few that
actuallystoodduringthe wa!. Of thendd-to la1e19'-centurybrick warehouses thatooce
characterLed Brookltn (knovn asthe'halled ciql' for its waterftontbelt of
warehouses), preciousfew survive.Somelacklaodmarkprotectionandhavebeen
convertedto vaJiouslew uses(suchasthe late1860swarehouse iu RedHook1tratnow
housestheFairray marketwili aparheds up above).And thentherearelandmarked
warchouses, suchasthe aforementioned EmpireStores,that arelelalively wholebuf
awaitadaptivereuse.A uniquecharacteristic ofthe TobaccoInspectionWarehouse is
tllat it is a perfectruio. Many yearsater il nas reducedin height,the wa.rehouse's roof
cavedi!" Ieavingonly portionsofthe stluctule'soriginalbrick walls,with litde or
tro1hilgreBaioiry thal wasEotpad ofthe originalbuilditrg. As sucb,it possesses the
powerofauthedicity asa getruineartifactofBrooklyl's importan! andfast
disappeali1g, waterfroD1history.

Anotrg landmarksftuctulesin New York todayareonly a few otherexamplesof

preseryed ruins. Oneis the PamchuteJumpat ConeyIslaad;anotheris the Smallpox
Hospitalat the southemendofRooseveltIsland.Thesearepowerfirlplacemaking
presences. Ruinsandftagnetrtsthatarenot designated lardmarkshavebeenpreserved
elsewhere in New York: Notableexarnplesincluderheold Long IslandRailroadgantries,
'rtich servedlong-gotrecatfloatoperatioos,
in GantryPlazaStaleParkin LongIslard
City, andthepreservatiodof architecturalAapents by the afist Mary Miss in her large
Arts-for-Tralsitprcjectin theUnion Squaresubwaystatioo.Thereis thusample
precedentfor thepreservationofruins in New York Sr.:chruins andfiagrbeDtsshjkea
uniquenoteof aesthelicalld emotionalappealin the cityscape.

TheTobaccoInspectionWarehouse-liketherailroadgantriesio eueens-yaandswithio
theboundadesofa park,in this casea partof BrooklynBridgeParkourently uqder
development.
A significaolcharacteristicofthe warehouse,I stoqgly believe,is that it
mayseryeasa uniquelandscaleelementwitlfn thepa*, both asa ftagmed ofan
impodaothistodcalbuilding andalsoasa structurethat,owing10its ftagmenlary
character, doesnot utrdulyobscurethevisuallyopednatue of tbis portiofl oflie
waterftod park.Thus,I stongly believe,rheTobaccoInspectiooWarehouse shouldbe
preservedin its present,rooflessstate,Irot newlyroofedoverto beleused asI'r enclosed
structure.It shouldbe regalded,i.4its presentstate,asa temendousasset----a gift-to the
plarnersof Brookb'nBridgePark.It is seldompossiblein New York to adaptsomething
like t}teconservation pmcticesadvocated in I q'LcenruryErlglald by JobnRuskin-
$/illiam Monis, andthe Societyfor the Protectionof AacientBuildings,in which ruirs
weretrotto betansfomed into somethingelsebut protectedandveleratedaspoignant
punctuations ofthe living landscape.Whensucha circumstalce-itr this casea ruin that
is alreadywithin desighated poraand-We\ts itself, we might do well to seizethe
uoiqueopportunityfor a speoialkind ofenriohmeotofthe wban enviroDment.Theraw
monumental beautywith whichthis ruio evokesBrooklyn'spa$tcouldendowthe park
foreverwith a feature--bothomamentaland asa venuefor gatherings, p@ctical*of
inimitablemagic.

FraocisMorrone
ArchitecturalhistoriaDatd atthor of An ArehitechtralGaidebookto Broouj'n
July12,2010