I hadn't actually walked by the Doehler Die Building at 505 Court Street at the corner of Huntington Street for while now, but yesterday, I was at that end of the neighborhood and was surprised to see that the building's exterior is undergoing some major repair.
Most of the windows on one side were sealed off and chunks of the concrete were chiseled out of the façade.
The former manufacturing building built in the 1920's had been converted to rental apartments in the 1980's. In 2005, the building went condo and the apartments were sold off under the new name of The Court Street Lofts. ,
During the conversion from rental to condo, some renters warned that the building had lots of problems. Elevators did not work, windows rattled and were tough to open and the maintenance was high.
Most disturbing, the concrete sections on the exterior were deteriorating quickly and would require a costly repair.
I guess the time to address the issue has finally come.
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6 comments:
Unfortunately, I live next door at 507. Friday I came home to lots of dust in the living room!! Guess wind blew it in. Plan to go over tomorrow, can't figure out why the building isn't covered with sheeting. There's not even a divider btwn our buildings :(
Like your blog! Found you through Carola :)
This was a once Thriving Factory. As A Child I Would Often Get Stuffed Animals tossed out the 7th floor window down to me.
As For The Facade, that's Been Repaired Many times. Doesn't Hold Up Over Time. I Think It's Because Of the Quality Concrete Being Used To adhere to Vastly Superior Original Mixture.
I lived in that building for 9 years, until it went condo. It used to be called the "Chocolate Factory" and I never could figure out why. I assume that at one time a candy manufacturer was based there but I was able to find out the name of the company.
The Chocolate Factory was known as Wallace's Chocolates. My mother worked there ages ago !
Thank you, Anonymous, for the name of the Chocolate Factory - Wallaces!
When I was a young child in the 1950s we lived in an apartment above Hanley's, and my uncle worked in the Chocolate Factory. I couldn't recall the name and am so glad you posted it.
I recall my uncle coming home after work with chunks of chocolate that didn't make the cut, perhaps because they broke off a larger piece. It was always a treat to watch him walk around the corner with that bag of chocolate chunks for us.
Many more memories of Carroll Gardens in the 1950s - Rose's candy store on Court between 4th Place & Luquer St, the Sisters of Charity convent on Luquer (now condos, I believe), and St. Marys' Star of the Sea Catholic school (red building still next to the Church) - girls classrooms ground floor, boys upstairs. My 1st grade class had 53 students, sitting 3 across at the old wrought iron and wooden desks with ink wells.I look forward to more people posting on the history of Carroll Gardens.
Thanks for sharing your own memories.
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