Fort Jay powder magazine (Structure 215)

215 Governors Island | also 140 Carder Road | Governors Island | built 1900

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1806
An underground powder magazine is built in the north ravelin when Fort Columbus is rebuilt
When Jonathan Williams rebuilt the fort as Fort Columbus in 1806-09, he added a ravelin on its north side with two recessed, casemated flanks. The district report lists an underground powder magazine, Structure 215, in that ravelin, approached by a ramp that passes under Building 214 and dated to the same years of construction.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1835
The old powder magazine in Fort Jay's northeast bastion is demolished for new ones in the north ravelin
A plan of the fort from 1800 shows a large magazine in its northeast bastion. When the Army made its first big repairs to Fort Columbus in the 1830s, it tore that magazine down and built four new ones in the north ravelin, the same earthwork where the underground magazine of Structure 215 lies. The same program rebuilt the stone walls and replaced the old barracks inside the fort.
“The old magazine in the northeast bastion was demolished and replaced by four new magazines erected in the north ravelin.”
Source: National Park Service

Nearby