Brooklyn Central Office, Bureau of Fire Communications
35 Empire Boulevard | also 35 Washington Avenue | Prospect Park | built 1913
Open on the map4 entries
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.
- 1913
Frank Helmle designs a City Beautiful pavilion as the fire department's Brooklyn dispatch center
Frank Helmle designed the building while serving as Brooklyn's Superintendent of Public Buildings, a post he held from 1902 to roughly 1913. When it was finished, the Fire Department used it as a dispatch center, where fire calls arrived and were sent to the firehouse best placed to respond. Brownstoner says Helmle gave what might have been a utilitarian cube a white brick and limestone pavilion design.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1913
A one-and-a-half-story Italian Renaissance pavilion of brick and limestone
The Landmarks Preservation Commission describes a garden-pavilion design: three arches on slender columns with a low balustrade frame a deep porch at the entrance. The one-and-a-half-story brick and limestone building has a plain cornice, a tile roof, and string courses that run continuously around the side walls. The commission called it a civic building well fitted to its setting beside the Botanic Garden.
“Three graceful arches with slender columns and a low balustrade, frame a deep porch or vestibule and create a fine central entrance.”
- 1966
The commission landmarks the building with the Fire Commissioner's support
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Brooklyn Central Office, Bureau of Fire Communications, at 35 Empire Boulevard a landmark in a report dated April 19, 1966. Two speakers backed designation at the hearing, and Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery sent a letter in support.
“In a letter to the Commission, Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery supported designation.”
- 2008
The city closes the dispatch office and moves Brooklyn's fire dispatch to MetroTech
In July 2008 the city closed the facility and relocated the Brooklyn dispatch office to the new fire headquarters at MetroTech in downtown Brooklyn. The move consolidated Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island dispatch together. A 2011 Brownstoner post noted repair work on the front stairs and large interior renovations, and repeated an unconfirmed rumor that EMS would take it over.
Source: brownstoner.com
Nearby
- Willink Entrance Comfort Station8 Ocean Avenue | 1 entry
- Lefferts Historic House452 Flatbush Avenue | 8 entries
- Prospect Park Carousel454 Flatbush Avenue | 3 entries
- Prospect Park Zoo450 Flatbush Avenue | 4 entries
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden Laboratory Administration Building1000 Washington Avenue | 7 entries
- Prospect Park Boathouse101 East Drive | 6 entries