Architectural History of Brooklyn Warehouse
Bob meets with Bill Higgins of Higgins and Quasebarth Restoration to discuss the project building's history. Higgins utilizes historical records, pictures, and other archival information, in addition to the physical evidence exposed by the demolition crew, to piece together a portrait of the building's history. On the exterior, Higgins makes note of the cast iron lintels above the second and third floor windows, and their absence on the fourth floor. The historian also notes the change in quality of the masonry facade on the fourth floor, and surmises that it was a later addition to the original structure. Vila and Higgins move inside to search for additional clues about the building's past. The building's walls were built to extreme structural standards to support more weight than is common in residences of the time, which suggests the building may have had a mixed-use residential/office space on its first floor. The existence of window openings is evident in the original brickwork, suggesting that the building pre-dates neighboring structures on either side.
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