The vacant corner at Prince and Mulberry Streets in Nolita has suffered the indignity of being drilled by borers from New Jersey. They arrived one recent weekend with a big rig and got down into the asphalt, but what's to come? Unclear. The little lot at 47 Prince/259 Mulberry, facing onto the leafy walled cemetery of Old St. Patrick's, has for years served as a parking lot for locals and,until this spring, was home to a ramshackle metal shed that became a favorite spot for taggers. The corner was photographed by Berenice Abbott in 1935, back when a couple of derelict federal-era houses stood on the site (they were torn down two years later). More recently the lot was part of the extensive holdings of eccentric late megalandlord Bill Gottlieb.
In 2006 the property was transferred by Mollie Bender, his sister and the executrix for his estate, to...herself. The immediate plan for the site is a mystery. It sits near a hot bed of condo activity, one block from 290 Mulberry, two blocks west of 211 Elizabeth and a bit north of 56 Spring. For now, it's empty, fenced-off and forlorn, except?as seen in the gallery above?when art and commerce come calling.
· William Gottlieb coverage [Curbed]
Loading comments...