NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Mayor Eric Adams and the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings announced on Friday that they have taken down New York City’s longest-standing stairwell shed in Manhattan, a structure that has been up for 21 years, as part of City Hall’s push to emphasize pedestrian safety.
The city filed a criminal complaint against the property managers at 409 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem in 2019, where the shed was up, for their continued failure to repair the building, the mayor’s office said.
In response to the complaint, the building’s management company was compelled to finish the repairs, which were recently completed.
The 13-story apartment building was dubbed “Harlem’s House of Celebrities” by Langston Hughes due to its occupancy of well-known figures in the 1930s and 1940s, according to Allison Hughes, an archivist for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
City Hall called the building a city landmark, and added that the location was an important site for Black political organizing, including being home to the NAACP and its executive secretaries, W.E.B. DuBois and Thurgood Marshall.
The shed was first put up in 2002 after an engineer hired by the owners found unsafe conditions around the brick and terra-cotta stone façade in an inspection prompted by a local law requiring regular façade inspections for buildings over six stories.
The removal comes as part of Adams “Get Sheds Down” initiative which targets the removal of sidewalk construction across the city.
“For 21 years, residents of Harlem sacrificed public space and the beauty of a historical landmark because property managers repeatedly failed to do their job,” Adams said. “Today, we deliver 409 Edgecombe Avenue back into the hands of the Sugar Hill community and remain focused on continuing to safely remove the eyesores that are ugly sidewalk sheds and scaffolding across the five boroughs.”
The Get Sheds Down plan was launched in July, and since its inception has led to the removal of 75 long-standing sheds (defined as being up for over five years). There are currently 500 fewer actively permitted sidewalk sheds in NYC – the equivalent of 11 miles – due to the initiative, the mayor’s office said.
“Sidewalk sheds serve a legitimate public safety role in our city, but not all sheds are the same,” DOB Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said. “A shed installed as part of new construction is a sign of economic activity. A shed erected as part of necessary maintenance is an indication of compliance and responsible ownership. A shed kept up for years while delaying needed building repairs is selfish and unacceptable, and we will continue to do all we can to address these situations.”