Imagine an entire city district dedicated to nothing but ventilating the underworld!
December 22, 2011 2:12 PM Subscribe
The house Greek Revival subway ventilator on Joralemon Street.
That is cool as shit. I run by that place all the time and always wondered why it was so much rattier than all the other houses on the block.
posted by saladin at 2:27 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by saladin at 2:27 PM on December 22, 2011
I like the suggestion in the article of homes built in subway cars. That way, we can have parts of the subway systems that look like homes and homes that look like parts of the subway system. Later, we can create industrial areas that look like parks, and build parks inside of factories. Libraries that ware banks! Playgrounds that are offices!
We will turn this city inside out!
*pant* *pant* I'm going to go lie down for a bit.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:38 PM on December 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
We will turn this city inside out!
*pant* *pant* I'm going to go lie down for a bit.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:38 PM on December 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
As neat as this is, I always preferred the sidewalk grate variety.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:43 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:43 PM on December 22, 2011
In person, does it match the surroundings as badly as it looks in photos?
posted by smackfu at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by smackfu at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2011
Libraries that ware banks! Playgrounds that are offices!
...offices that are submarines!
posted by griphus at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2011
...offices that are submarines!
posted by griphus at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2011
In person, does it match the surroundings as badly as it looks in photos?
I've been down that street several times, and did not notice it. There are far more eyesore non-matching brownstones in Brooklyn (And don't even get me started on eyesore buildings in Astoria. Vomit!). It certainly does stand out, especially when somebody points out that it is actually a subway vent, but I'd rather have something like this than a horrific thing like that "Nixon Monument" up there.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:52 PM on December 22, 2011
I've been down that street several times, and did not notice it. There are far more eyesore non-matching brownstones in Brooklyn (And don't even get me started on eyesore buildings in Astoria. Vomit!). It certainly does stand out, especially when somebody points out that it is actually a subway vent, but I'd rather have something like this than a horrific thing like that "Nixon Monument" up there.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:52 PM on December 22, 2011
And then there's this place down the street from me. It is far more shocking-pink in person than in the streetview photos.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2011
In person, does it match the surroundings as badly as it looks in photos?
It's a little more dilapidated than the buildings around it, but it's not too bad. Most people don't even realize that it's not a normal residence.
The article gets its facts a little wrong. The building on Joralemon is purely for ventilation (and presumably evacuation). The electrical substation they talked about is in a similarly camouflaged building around the corner on Willow St. And it's not for the "A" train, but it's for the NYCT's "A" Division, the former IRT subway. It's actually the 4/5 line.
There's also a ventilation shaft for the BMT subway one block over on Montague St.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2011 [4 favorites]
It's a little more dilapidated than the buildings around it, but it's not too bad. Most people don't even realize that it's not a normal residence.
The article gets its facts a little wrong. The building on Joralemon is purely for ventilation (and presumably evacuation). The electrical substation they talked about is in a similarly camouflaged building around the corner on Willow St. And it's not for the "A" train, but it's for the NYCT's "A" Division, the former IRT subway. It's actually the 4/5 line.
There's also a ventilation shaft for the BMT subway one block over on Montague St.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2011 [4 favorites]
Kind of like on King of the Hill when they disguised an electrical substation in the neighborhood as a house.
posted by inthe80s at 3:42 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by inthe80s at 3:42 PM on December 22, 2011
...offices that are submarines!
Dammit, that was what I came here to say.
posted by spitefulcrow at 4:29 PM on December 22, 2011
Dammit, that was what I came here to say.
posted by spitefulcrow at 4:29 PM on December 22, 2011
I wonder what it's like to live next to it? Every noise I heard coming from that side would cause me to imagine mole men climbing out of the tunnels and hosting strange parties in the fake house.
posted by orme at 4:35 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by orme at 4:35 PM on December 22, 2011
Then, for a substantial fee—as much as $15,000 a month—you can rent a radically redesigned subway car, complete with closets, shelves, and in-floor storage cubes. The whole thing is parked beneath your house and braked in place; it has electricity and climate control, perhaps even WiFi. You can store summer clothes, golf equipment, tool boxes, children's toys, and winter ski gear.
When you no longer need it, or can't pay your bills, you simply take everything out of it and the subway car is returned to the local depot.
For $5000 a month I'll let you rent my basement. It's about 3 or so subway cars in size. I'll personally drive to your home and pick you up any time you need to access it. 66% off for 66% more room. How can you beat it?
posted by Splunge at 5:03 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
When you no longer need it, or can't pay your bills, you simply take everything out of it and the subway car is returned to the local depot.
For $5000 a month I'll let you rent my basement. It's about 3 or so subway cars in size. I'll personally drive to your home and pick you up any time you need to access it. 66% off for 66% more room. How can you beat it?
posted by Splunge at 5:03 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
See also: DC's "Nixon Monument," a ventilation shaft for the I-395 tunnel.
Awesome, that's all the country needs in these times, another Nixon shaft.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 6:32 PM on December 22, 2011
Awesome, that's all the country needs in these times, another Nixon shaft.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 6:32 PM on December 22, 2011
Passed this hundreds of times and never noticed it. I have spent cumulatively hundreds of hours staring at the ventilation tower at the end of Montague while smoking weed in that playground at the end of Montague next to the promenade.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:50 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Ad hominem at 6:50 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
Wow. I used to live on Joralemon, about two blocks from there. Never noticed it at all.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:49 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by Bookhouse at 9:49 PM on December 22, 2011
I love that that ventilation shaft got named the Nixon monument. Sort of an architectural version of "ugh, do we *have* to?"
posted by gjc at 6:04 AM on December 23, 2011
posted by gjc at 6:04 AM on December 23, 2011
I live near this house too. I just figured it belonged to a pimp or something until I learned that it was an airshaft/utility entrance.
When I went to school in Hartford CT I used to drive by another fake house all the time.
Here it is in Google Maps.
It was apparently some utility machinery that was dressed up to match the stately neighbors. Looks real in google maps but in person it looks like set dressing, and notice, the driveway circle doesn't have a driveway that connects to the road!
posted by JBennett at 2:06 PM on December 23, 2011
When I went to school in Hartford CT I used to drive by another fake house all the time.
Here it is in Google Maps.
It was apparently some utility machinery that was dressed up to match the stately neighbors. Looks real in google maps but in person it looks like set dressing, and notice, the driveway circle doesn't have a driveway that connects to the road!
posted by JBennett at 2:06 PM on December 23, 2011
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