Anyone born in the last 35 years, or anyone who moved to Sunset Park during this period, may not know that the “castle” on the corner of 43rd Street and 4th Avenue was once a police station.  Not only was it a police station, but when it was built, it was described as the most “handsome” and perfect police station in the United States.  The history of this building’s “birth” can be followed through stories in copies of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle at the Brooklyn Public Library.  The Eagle was a highly respected daily newspaper serving the City of Brooklyn from before the American Civil War. 

 

The birth of the police station on the southwest corner of 43rd Street and 4th Avenue began with the creation of a police “sub-station” on 37th Street and 4th Avenue in October of 1886.  The sub-station building was previously used as a “saloon”.  The City of Brooklyn’s southern border was near today’s 60th Street.  The area from 16th to 60th Street was mostly farmland with small pockets of housing.  But Brooklyn was growing rapidly and to keep up with this growth, the City put a sub-precinct on 37th Street with 11 police officers and began planning for the construction of a full precinct building.

 

In late 1890, the Police Department announced the approval of the plans of architect George Ingram for the construction of the new precinct building on 43rd Street.  Mr Ingram decided to use a Norman-style of building because of the prominent location.  He said “From a long distance the building will be visible, and the bold and almost rugged lines of the work will, therefore, be far more effective than would any other style.”  The building was designed to include the main building, a stable for horse, jail cells and a morgue.  The building would run 76 feet along 4th Avenue and 48 feet down 43rd Street.  It would be built of Anderson pressed brick and blue stone trimmings to match.  The stable was built with 17 horse stalls for the mounted police squad.  And there were eight large jail cells in a separate section, to be reached through a passageway from the ground floor of the precinct.  The entrance to the main building was through an 11 foot arch with highly polished granite columns on either side.  The interior was finished with polished ash wood and contained “modern” steam heating and plumbing.

 

The main building contains 11 rooms on the first floor and has a large “muster” room in the center for the officers to assemble for patrol duty.  The building has three floors and a basement.

 

When the police moved into the building (March 1892) it was known as the 18th Police Precinct and the commander was Captain James Kenney.  The Sunset Park precinct number was later changed to the 43rd, then the 143rd, then the 76th, then the 32nd, and then finally, the 68th Precinct.  Captain Kenney was born in Ireland on April 5th, 1844.  In 1877 he became a captain.  He had a broad, robust nose and a shaggy mustache, much like a schnauzer dog, drooping over the edges of his grimacing lips.

 

In 1971 the police moved out of the aging 68th precinct and into a brand new brick building on 29th Street and 4th Avenue.  The Sunset Park precinct was renumbered as the 72nd Precinct and Bay Ridge’s precinct was renumbered as the 68th from the former 64th.  Bay Ridge got a new police station at the same time – moving from an outdated building on 86th Street to a new building on 65th Street.

 

But the story of the old 68th Precinct wasn’t over, it was just beginning.  The day that the police moved out, community activist Tony Giordano and a group of teenagers took over the abandoned building.  They were afraid that the building would be quickly demolished.  Their group, Street People Coalition, wanted to demonstrate to the adult community that the building was important to preserve.  To make their point they began preparing the building to serve as the site of a three-day community health fair. 

 

Mr. Giordano recalled “There was a lot of friction between us and police at the time.  Cops on patrol would come into the building to warm up during that very cold winter, but they didn’t like the idea of a bunch of kids being in charge of the building that was once theirs.  One night, the friction erupted into an open dispute.  A beat cop threatened to arrest all of us.  I challenged him.  I said, you don’t have enough paddy wagons to transport us and you can’t make this decision without a higher ranking officer.  When a sergeant showed up to discuss the issue with me, I refused to talk to him on the street.  I made him come into the building and I went behind the booking desk to address him.  In those days, precinct desks were huge wooden “altars” that permitted the police to tower above anyone they were speaking to.  The sergeant didn’t like having the tables turned on him.  He went back outside to talk to his men.  One of us followed the sergeant out and used a thick chain and padlock to close the doors from outside.  He then ran to the stable and we pulled him back in thru the hayloft.  The police were frustrated and left.  We then marched through the building, into the castle turret singing patriotic songs of victory.” Mr. Giordano and his cohorts spent a month rehabilitating the building – working 24 hours a day in shifts.   They raised funds by “renting” the building to a motion picture company shooting the movie “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight”.  The health fair attracted 1,776 community residents who received free check-ups, health screenings and participated in workshops.

 

Unfortunately, the community didn’t view the preservation of the building as important and after the health fair, the building was left abandoned.  A few years later, a heroin-detoxification program, called “The Way” run by Reverend Julio Santana took over the building.  Their Jesus-based program also stressed job training and gainful employment for former addicts.  As part of this program, they put scaffolding around the old precinct and began putting fresh mortar between the bricks and painting the building.  But their project was never completed.  In the early 1980s, a group of community residents began an effort to have the building become a NYC Landmark. They believed this would keep the building from being torn down and also would help them raise funds to fix the building.  They were successful in having the building landmarked in 1983.  In the following year, the volunteers, as the Sunset Park School of Music, entered the only bid for the building and purchased it from the City for $15,000.  But they found landmarking to be a mixed blessing.  It saved the building and helped to raise funds, but the funds were not sufficient to pay the high cost of repairing the building according to NYC Landmark regulations.   Eventually they raised enough to fix the stable roof and used that portion of the building for a short period.  When they lost possession of the building.  The City had an offer to turn the building into a health spa, but funding fell through from the bidder.  In 2000, the Brooklyn Chinese American Association bought the building.