New York City To Auction Historic Artifacts From Brooklyn Warehouse
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - If you walk down a residential street near the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, you might look up at the old sign with Mayor Ed Koch's name on it.
WCBS 880's Alex Silverman In Williamsburg
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If you're really curious, you might try the door or dial the phone number on it, but you won't get an answer.
For decades, the public had come to the Architectural Salvage Warehouse on Berry Street to buy artifacts from a lost city - seats from the old Audubon Ballroom or signs from Grand Central Terminal's old post office. There is even equipment from New York City's last slaughterhouse.
"But, apparently, in the last ten years, that had diminished," says Suzanne Wasserman, director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University of New York.
She says that now, the entire contents of the warehouse will go to a single bidder later this month. They won't even sort the history from the junk.
"I don't think it's right because there are things that are part of our cultural legacy," she tells WCBS 880 reporter Alex Silverman. "The Landmarks Preservation Commission claims they asked museums if they could take the stuff and that nobody was interested. I don't know if that's true."
What do you think should be done with the artifacts? Let us know below...
