A 9/11 Memorial that Grew in Brooklyn

Published on: October 10th, 2019 | Written by: Joseph Anastasio

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Nearly ten years ago, we made an accidental discovery hidden in an abandoned corner of the Navy Yard that would soon become one of the most recognized memorials in NYC.

Myself & C were keen on accessing the abandoned hospital buildings in the southeast corner of the property. At the time access to the navy yard was heavily restricted, and the perimeter still well secured. C had some business in the yard, and once you were past the gates you could roam freely, even to the abandoned parts.

After making our way onto the grounds, we picked our way through one of the buildings and made our way outside. As we walked towards the historic Building R95, we noticed a newly constructed viewing platform. As we walked towards this mysterious new structure we discussed its odd location. Why was a viewing platform constructed, facing an empty lot?

It wasn’t until we came around and stepped onto the platform that this temporary structure started to make sense. We had accidentally discovered a mock up of what would soon be the 9/11 memorial.

This mock up featured several panels that closely resemble the current memorial. However, the names and flight numbers were all fictionalized. Nearby, we found prototypes of signage for the memorial.

A virtually unknown discovery
At the time, there was nearly zero news about this prototype. The only report of its existence came from The New Yorker, and included no photos (at least in the online edition). We hadn’t seen that article at the time. Almost no one knew it existed. We certainly didn’t. Indeed, we were the first to post photos of the prototype online. Finding this prototype made for a far more interesting surprise than anything the old empty hospital buildings had to offer.

With the cat out of the bag, it was only a matter of time before other news outlets started picking up on the story. Weeks after we published, Curbed claimed they learned of the prototype via the Kansas City Star. The 9/11 memorial twitter feed only announced the existence of the prototype a month after our reporting. In the months ahead more photos and video footage emerged, via interviews with the architect.

At the time, there was plenty of talk about the long overdue memorial, and if there would be anything ready for the ten year anniversary. Anxiety was growing over the seeming stagnation of the project. Many question if a memorial would ever get built. Now, people could see it was actually taking shape. Something physical existed, and it was coming together in a form nearly everyone accepted.

Eventually, the prototype itself was dismantled, and no trace of it remained at the hospital grounds.

Ten, nearly twenty years on…
And here we are, nearing twenty years after a day many of us still hate to talk about, and ten years after discovering this prototype. Personally, I’ve only been to the real memorial once. I happened to be downtown two or three years back and finally brought myself to see how the real memorial turned out. It looks amazing of course, but I didn’t stay long. Something about being in a place I have bad memories of again just wasn’t for me.

Don’t get me wrong, it is reassuring to know we did right in memorializing the victims. Having turned this into a more sacred ground for future generations to learn from was the best possible outcome. But for those of us who were there that horrible Tuesday morning, it can feel some kind of way…

Context is everything.
Accidentally finding the prototype felt like an unexpected discovery. A somber one, but a very unexpected, super interesting one. Finding it in an otherwise abandoned area of the navy yard with only a good friend present was well within my comfort zone.

Seeing the real memorial in a place already filled with negative memories felt quite different. Sure, I’m an extreme outlier in the grand scheme of things, and future generations need it. But I enjoyed the seclusion of the prototype. It ranks pretty far up the list of unexpected things I’ve found while exploring.

Comments

NOTE: It sometimes takes a short while for comments to be approved - unfortunately there's a lot of spam comments that come in. I absolutely love when y'all share personal stories of friends relatives etc who worked in these places. It really helps capture what these places were like before they closed up shop.

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