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ISLAND ARCHIVES: A Bi-Week­ly Look at Gov­er­nors Islands Pic­turesque Past

Jul 15, 2010 2:52 pm

Gate­way to Gov­er­nors Island

 [cap­tion id=“attachment_3575” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Orignial White­hall Fer­ry Build­ing. BMB is vis­i­ble to the right.”][/​caption]

Many GI vis­i­tors come to vis­it via Pier 6 in Brook­lyn. This approach allows you to cavort in the new Brook­lyn Bridge Park, Pier 6 play­ground. But for those of you arriv­ing from Man­hat­tan, your trip affords the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see one of Manhattan’s archi­tec­tur­al gems.

The Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing was con­struct­ed in 1909 to accom­mo­date the heavy vol­ume of ves­sel traf­fic to and from Brook­lyn in tan­dem with the White­hall Fer­ry ter­mi­nal. The stun­ning & unique Beaux Arts build­ing under­went a stun­ning reha­bil­i­ta­tion in 2006 by the NYC Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island (for­mer­ly GIPEC) oper­ates the two north-most slips and the new­ly ren­o­vat­ed fer­ry wait­ing room. Gov­er­nors Island is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble via many sub­way routes includ­ing the R & 1 trains less than a block away. This was the case in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry too, as you can see in the pho­to below of the ele­vat­ed trains ter­mi­nat­ing at White­hall.

Most his­toric build­ings go through a less-than stun­ning peri­od. For the BMB, this might have been the ser­vice­able Coast Guard peri­od seen below . 

[cap­tion id=“attachment_3577” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Ferry Wait­ing Room Inte­ri­or, 1980s. Pho­to: Library of Con­gress”][/​caption]

 But the build­ing is back in to its for­mer glo­ry now and it just about the hand­somest point-of-depar­ture in the City! Be sure to check out the array of won­der­ful details when you next come through. [cap­tion id=“attachment_3578” align=“aligncenter” width=“240” caption=“Railing detail on bal­cony”][/​caption]
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