City Grants Landmark Status to Scaffolding That Has “Always Been There”
After 19 years, three mayors and six different coffee shops, the temporary structure has officially become part of the neighborhood.
WILLIAMSBURG — A beloved stretch of sidewalk scaffolding was granted landmark status Tuesday after city officials concluded that removing it would cause “unnecessary disruption to a thriving ecosystem of pigeons, delivery bicycles and people standing outside bars.”
Installed in 2007 as an emergency safety measure, the structure has since become a neighborhood institution, outlasting three mayors, several generations of restaurants and one rent-stabilized rumor.
“We can’t imagine the block without it,” said one resident who moved to Brooklyn last month. “I literally have never seen the building.” The city says a plaque commemorating the scaffold's permanence will be installed beneath the scaffold at an unspecified later date. ◆