While many of the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal has been given over to smaller manufacturing concerns, the concrete cathedral known as Building B, remains a haunting historical wonder.
Originally conceived to be a military installation to assist with the efforts in World War I, the Brooklyn Army Terminal was finished in 1919, late, but not lacking in grandiose scale. At the time it was created the complex was the largest concrete structure in the world, but the jewel of the site was Building B.
The huge loading dock was outfitted with an atrium-style roof that covered the wide-open interior. The walls feature stepped loading platforms that were serviced by a central crane that could track from one side of the ceiling to another. A pair of train tracks were also installed in the floor of the dock so that supplies could be ferried in and out.
The Brooklyn Army Terminal finally got to see some use for its original purpose during World War II acting as the single largest supply base in the U.S. It was finally shut down in 1966 and sold to the City of New York in 1981.
Building B and its brethren are still private property, but groups such as Untapped Cities and Turnstile Tours still offer tours of the space, making sure that the industrial beauty of the giant space is not forgotten.
