Last Ones Out

As Grieve reported, Nevada Smith's on 3rd Avenue between 11th and 12th has closed and the building that holds it, along with its neighbor, is coming down. Said Smith's, developers are "poised to demolish most of the block and replace our place, and yours, with a new luxury apartment block."

The two doomed tenement buildings have been derelict for some time, a place for mysterious grubby curtains and wondering about weird interiors. They are also the last remnants of the old block.

photo: Mark Kane

In this late-1970s photo by reader Mark Kane, they are the tallest structures on the block. To their left is James Renwick's 1869 headquarters of the New York City Department of Public Charities and Corrections. It was demolished in 1989 for the Loews Village 7 multiplex.

The trio of three-story buildings on their right disappeared, said Mark, "when the landlord pulled some of those 'decorative' columns from the storefronts, only to have the building facades collapse." There's a parking lot there now.

Once this pair of antiques is demolished, nothing will remain from the above photo.

Last ones out, turn out the lights.