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American Railway Express building: NYC's other major ruin.
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If and when people ever think of ruins in the NYC area,
Renwick is by far the most famous and notable. There is at least one
other, relatively unknown ruin not to far away within NYC. The American
Railway Express building is easily triple to quadruple the size of
Renwick, though it is perhaps little over half it's age at best.
The building has stood ruined for at least the last 25 to 30 years.
It is located inside a railway facility (of course) as a burnt-out
shell of it's former self. It's a 2 story, high ceilinged building
which could easily consume an entire city block. The top floor faces
an elevated bridge which spans the rail facility, thus creating an
entrance to the street on it's top floor (!)
While I have found no good source of information with regard to this
building's history, it's name belies part of the story: "Express".
During the early part of this century, trains often carried "Express"
rail cars. These cars carried parcels which would not normally consume
an entire boxcar. It is likely that this building was used to sort
these packages. With the advent of trucks and airplanes, and the decrease
in rail service over this last century, it is not hard to see why
the building outlived it's intended use.
I am not sure when the fire consumed and destroyed the structure,
but it must have been a massive inferno, likely to have occurred after
the building was closed up. The entire structure seems to have been
charred. The roof near the street was unstable and covered with holes
when inspected perhaps 10 years ago. Today, this section of rooftop
and second floor have been torn down - likely due to partial collapse
or injury from an intruder who also found their way onto the rooftop.
Today, this opened section has recently given birth to trees and other
vegetation. One can only wonder how much longer it will take before
it is entirely consumed by plant life, much like Renwick.
This, of course, is assuming the structure continues to survive. The
city is drastically short of places to park and service trains, and
a location that is already accepted by the surrounding residents to
be a noisy rail facility could be a prime candidate. There is also
to be some expansion of service in the area in the years to come,
so just as any other abandoned structure, it's future is indeed unknown
and likely to be in constant jeopardy. |
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