High Winds Damage Scaffolding on Townhouse Art Gallery on Second Street

A heavy gust of wind nearly blew off a piece of scaffolding on the dilapidated building on Second St. at the corner of Seventh Ave. Saturday afternoon.

The FDNY’s Squad 1 and Ladder Company 122 arrived to the building, which is now the run by the owners, the Nash family, around noon and removed two pieces of scaffolding, one of which was hanging off and was in danger of crashing down onto the sidewalk on Second St.

An FDNY spokesman on the scene said the scaffolding is “sound” but the siding is “rotted” and a gust of wind caught the façade and nearly ripped it off.

“The façade is in danger of falling,” he said, explaining that a neighbor called the FDNY to alert them about the dangling piece of wood.

The National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning for the five boroughs effective from 10 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday.

The NWS said that the .

The scaffolding was erected in 2007, by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, after a window fell from the Nash’s building, which used to be the Landmark Tavern on the ground floor space on Seventh Avenue, and landed on top of a car parked in front of the building.

The window pierced the top of the car while a woman was sitting inside, a man said, who has been living next door to the building for 28 years and did not want to give his name. Luckily she was not injured.

The building, which address is 187 Seventh Avenue and 501 Second Street, due to its quirky past and how it has been left to rot and has become dilapidated over the years of neglect.

The Nash family told Patch said that Saturday’s incident was not their fault, but rather the fault of the contractor who the city hired to build the scaffolding, which according to the Nashes was “faulty.” 

“What happened today is a direct result of the City and the general contractor Mr. Lakhi avoiding their responsibility,” a member of the Nash family who did not want to give their first name. “Mr. Lakhi…has failed in his duties to his employer and to the residents of Park Slope.”  

Mr. Lakhi told Patch during a phone interview that the Nash family “has not kept the building in good condition.”

The neighbor who was has lived on Second Street for 28 years said the building’s current condition is a grave danger to pedestrians and neighbors who walk under the scaffolding everyday.

“It’s a shame, I don’t know what has to happen, tragedy may be the only way to have the building fixed,” the neighbor said while the FDNY was removing the siding. “All that has to happen is for someone to toss a cigarette on the scaffolding and…I don’t even want to say it because my building will go up in flames too.”

Andy Wandzilak, the owner of Two Boots across the street from the Townhouse Art Gallery, said his friend tried to buy the building, but after he inspected the inside he said the water damage was so bad that all that could be salvaged was the brick walls.

“It’s been an eyesore for the 23 years I have been in business,” Wandzilak said who was also on the scene. “It’s sad because it’s prime real estate and nothing is being done.”

The longtime neighbor said he supports the scaffolding because bricks, windows and other dangerous pieces have crashed down from the building and on to the sidewalk numerous times before it was erected.

“It’s a travesty and a legitimate hazard to our community, kids and every pedestrian who walks by the building,” the neighbor said. “Nash is doing a good thing with the art gallery, but the condition of the building is a blatant disregard to the community.”