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Breaking: Unstable Walls At 2 Fifth Avenue
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2009
Modified Aug 9, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2009
Modified Aug 9, 2009
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Some wire reports about 2 Fifth Avenue, the post-war building just north of Washington Square Park (on the west side of Fifth): "10-12 FLOOR WALLS ARE BULGING" and "BRICKS ARE PULLING AWAY FROM THE 17TH AND 18TH FLOORS." Yikes! Apparently the Department of Building was called and authorities are preparing for a possible "minor collapse." And here's some history about the 20-story, 391-unit building—did you know there were originally 11 brownstones on the property—built by William Rhinelander for his family—between Washington Square Park North and 8th Street? When plans for this apartment building were released, there was a "Save Rhinelander" campaign. UPDATE: Now it's an "all hands" situation for a wall collapse. UPDATE 8/8: As commenters mentioned, it was an issue with the facade, not a collapse. The building's board president Adelaide Polsinelli tells us, "There was never any imminent danger of a collapse of any sort. Not one brick fell from the facade and no one was hurt. A small section of the facade appeared to be bulging and management, proactively, notified the proper authorities so that immediate action could prevent the possibility of any danger."
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2 Fifth Avenue
bricks falling
minor collapse
unstable walls
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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