Stop Work Order Ignored!

[oldtimer]

Government offices are closed today for the MLK holiday so I couldn't speak to anyone in the NYC Buildings Dept, but, despite a Stop Work Order, there was construction activity on 40 KENMARE STREET (Manhattan) this morning and all afternoon.

The city can't foresee that developers would do this during a holiday when they know govt offices will be closed?

[lofter1]

DOB website for 40 Kenmare shows that the Stop Work Order issued on 1.17.08 is RESOLVED.

If that isn't so from your POV and there is a dangerous situation then pursue it at the 5th Precinct and your City Councilmembers office.

[lofter1]

It seems like this project at 40 Kenmare is jinxed --

This one had another Stop Work Order last September.

And another neighbor isn't too happy with the situation there.

They've been digging out the foundation there for months ... they started digging last May and they were still digging last week.

[oldtimer]

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that some building is going to go up on that site. Both my dogs simply will not go near that spot.

And they're big dogs.

[lofter1]

That is creepy ^

Would your dogs go near it when the site was a parking lot?

Or have the dogs changed their behavior since the crews started to dig it up?

[Ninjahedge]

Have your dogs been listening to the lastest financial reports?

I can understand where they might be apprehensive before, but with a 0.75% reduction in prime, it might be a good time for them to invest!

[oldtimer]

That is creepy ^

Would your dogs go near it when the site was a parking lot?

Or have the dogs changed their behavior since the crews started to dig it up?

When it was just a parking lot they would back away near the end of the block, and the same if I happen to walk them down Mott pass Broome and up Elizabeth.

Now, I totally avoid that section because of the construction.

[Ninjahedge]

Were you nervous about the parking lot? They could be picking up on your actions too you know (see what happens when you watch too much Caesar Milan? )

Also, they may be smelling somethingyou can't and not exactly like it....

[oldtimer]

Were you nervous about the parking lot? They could be picking up on your actions too you know (see what happens when you watch too much Caesar Milan? )

Also, they may be smelling somethingyou can't and not exactly like it....

Who's Caesar Milan?

[oldtimer]

DOB website for 40 Kenmare shows that the Stop Work Order issued on 1.17.08 is RESOLVED.

If that isn't so from your POV and there is a dangerous situation then pursue it at the 5th Precinct and your City Councilmembers office.

Stop Work Order still on the NYC Building's website as of today, Wed.

[lofter1]

oldtimer: Do you have any info about what was on that site before it was a parking lot?

[Ninjahedge]

Who's Caesar Milan?

Just so you know, highlight the name, paste it in Google or Yahoo and look at the first link...

http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/




(PS, I left out one "L" )

[oldtimer]

oldtimer: Do you have any info about what was on that site before it was a parking lot?

A dump. And before that it was a tenement but was torn down around the 60's (???) I think.

[lofter1]

The 1961 Certificate of Occupancy for the lot at 30-40 Kenmare Street / 153 Elizabeth Street shows it was at that time listed as a parking lot. So the building probably come down right before that.


The NY Times Obituary Index for 1929 lists a funeral at 36 Kenmare Street:

GIOSCIA, John -- 19, Jan, 1929 -- DN (Death Notice) Son of Pancrazio Gioscia.

Funeral at 36 Kenmare St., on Jan. 22.

40 Kenmare Street was once the location of the workshop for a guitar maker named JOHN D'ANGELICO:

JOHN D'ANGELICO (1905-1964) built arch-top guitars and mandolins and is universally regarded as the finest archtop guitar builder that ever lived.

D'Angelico, born in New York City, began his learning at the age of nine in the workshop of his uncle, Signor Ciani who was known for his fine, traditional-st ...yle Italian mandolins and flat-top guitars. D'Angelico also studied violin making, which later influenced his arch-top guitar designs.

After his uncle died, D'Angelico ran the workshop for his aunt and managed approx. 15 employees until 1932, when he set up his own shop. D'Angelico's shop was located at 40 Kenmare Street in New York City. In 1959 the shop moved across the street ...

According to a n article in teh NY Times, on the evening of July 9 1869 an 11-year old boy, Michael Sullivan, was severely injured whe he fell from the 3rd Floor window of the building located at 153 Elizabeth Street, just up the block from Michael's home at 149 Elizabeth.

The City of New York Law Department Report from 1909 (P. 668, "Tenement House Branch Office") lists TWO properties at 153 Elizabeth:

153 Elizabeth Street

153 Elizabeth Street (rear)

The Annual Report of the Committee on Fire Patrol from 1903 shows this:



That list ^ skips 155, 157 & 159 Elizabeth.

DOB shows that the existing building at address 161-163 Kenmare (aka 29-37 Kenmare) is on the NW corner of Elizabeth / Kenmare.

A July 1895 NY Times article [pdf] about tenement sweat shops makes note of one in the vicinity of The Bowery at 157 Elizabeth Street.

Hmmmm ...

Around 1903, when the Williamsburg Bridge opened, Kenmare Street was cut through from the Bowery to Lafayette Street (then Marion Street -- 1903 MAP below).

To make way for the new Kenmare Street the buildings were razed at mid-block of Elizabeth, Mott & Mulberry Streets between Spring & Grand.

The origin of the name for Kenmare Street goes back to an old Tammany Hall boss, named "Big Tim" Sullivan (not known if there is any link between him and the Sullivan boy who fell from 153 Elizabeth Street).