A Whole Corner of the East Village Is Completely Gone

#allthatremains - the morning after an #explosion and #fire destroyed two 100+ year-old #tenement buildings in #manhattan's #eastvillage neighborhood, all that remains is a pile of smoking rubble #breakingnews #photojournalism

A photo posted by Photography by JB Nicholas (@thehouseofnick) on Mar 27, 2015 at 5:52am PDT

What was a bustling East Village street corner just yesterday is now a smoldering pile of rubble. An apparent gas explosion at 121 Second Avenue led to a horrific fire that damaged four buildings, and ultimately caused three of them—191, 121, and 123 Second Avenue—to collapse. According to data collected from PropertyShark, the collapsed buildings held a total of 15 apartments and seven commercial spaces (no. 119: eight units; no. 121: four units; no. 123: three units). Building no. 125, which Mayor Bill de Blasio said is "very seriously damaged by fire," has 26 apartments. In a press conference this afternoon, the mayor said that the investigation "will take days," and they will not be able to confirm the source of the explosion until they can access the basement of no. 121, which is currently impossible because of the large amount of debris.
· Explosion Leads to Building Collapse on Second Avenue [Curbed]