Over the years, our friends at the Landmarks Preservation Commission have amassed a motherlode of random items collected from the city's demolished buildings, storing them in a South Williamsburg warehouse. From 1980 to 2000, the LPC ran an architectural salvage program in which these items were sold to the public, but after twenty years, the program ended due to budget constraints. Well, now it’s back! Starting today, tons (literal tons) of items are up for grabs including those obtained during the last decade, which have never before been available to the public. These items include fences, doors, stone cow heads, bathtubs, toilets, theatre seats, facade pieces from a Times Square theater, unidentifiable metal things, a phone booth, and so, so much more.
On Wednesday, October 12th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Friday, October 14th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.; and Monday, October 17 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m, prospective buyers may tour the warehouse and submit closed bids for items. Be warned, though: the items are separated into thirty lots and each lot is sold as an entire package, so that means that, for instance, you can’t buy just one antique toilet (as if you could stop at just one)—you have to buy thirty at once. And then you’re solely responsible for removing everything on your lot. But still, there’s some pretty cool stuff and nobody has any idea what any of it is going to go for. The LPC is also attempting to give items to various historical preservation organizations around the city, and several museums have already accepted donations, including the National Building Museum, the Museum for the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and Hudson River Park Trust, which has claimed two huge stone steer heads and two huge stone ram heads. So go get some of the good stuff before the museums nab it all!
-Jeremiah Budin
· History for Sale [Curbed]
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