A two-year-old was hit by falling debris at 305 West End Avenue at 74th street around 11 a.m. on Sunday and knocked unconscious, according to FDNY and media reports.
Update, 10 p.m.: The Times reports that the two-year-old girl and her grandmother were sitting on a bench next to the Esplanade when a “swath” of the brick facade “rained down” on them. The child was hit in the head. The Buildings Department issued a violation “for a failure to maintain the property in a safe and code compliant manner” and is making the property owner construct a sidewalk shed, according to the Times.
Council member Helen Rosenthal sent out a notice saying “I am working with DOB to ensure this building is made safe as soon as possible for everyone on our streets.”
Kim, who sent the photos above and below, said a doorman told her the debris fell from the window pictured below. There was debris under that window that was roped off by police.
The building is known as The Esplanade and is a senior residence.
FDNY was called at 11:05 a.m. and took the child and an adult to Cornell hospital. The child was listed in critical condition, while the adult had minor injuries.
On Friday, we reported on another building on 104th street where debris had fallen from a building and damaged a car.
Photos by Kim.
I’ve been wondering just what the life of a pre-war building is…. these lovely old building make up most of Riverside Dr. and West End Ave and much of the rest of the upper west side in this area. Though we know the interiors can be reno’d I wonder more and more about how long the exterior can survive. Even though they are often “maintained” with mortar and touchups, there has to be a date by which these facades are no longer trustworthy. Most are approaching 100 years — can they still be safe?
Are you kidding me? Pre-war buildings have a lifespan of forever. Eight inch thick floated mud walls and real plaster (not drywall)= nuclear bunker construction. The real question you should be asking is what is the lifespan of the NEW construction in the city. 2×4 studs, foam insulation and drywall are a far cry from prewar quality. You remember that fire in Edgewater, NJ last year? We’re putting up THAT kind of building here.
The problem is our gov just don’t do anything about it! 100 year is short compare with European countries, their buildings last for few hundred years, still in good shape, why? Look at our public transportation and road condition, broke!!! Not even comparable with those third world countries, why?…..IF our gov do something about it, things will be different!
We paid enough Maintain & tax (NY states is the top tax payer!!)
The government does do something about our failing facades; buildings in NYC over 6 stories are mandated to be inspected by an architect or engineer every 5 years. It is called the Facade Inspection and Safety Program (formerly Local Law 11/98), and started in 1980 after a pedestrian was killed by falling debris from a building.
Unfortunately, whatever condition led to this incident was either not identified during the inspection in 2011, or it rapidly deteriorated since then. This winter was particularly harsh, and the freeze-thaw cycle in NYC caused some serious damage to buildings.
My thoughts and prayers are with the injured pair for a speedy recovery.
Our government do plenty about it. It gives buildings tax credits for repairing their facades. Not to mention government inspections of building exteriors. That costs the taxpayer, just like a reliable high-speed rail and highway system. But apparently, many in the US/NYC feel they’ve been Taxed Enough Already. You get what you pay for.
Why would we expect the government to pay to maintain the facade of a privately owned structure? We already have Local Law 11 which mandates inspections and repair of facades every six or seven years. This is the responsibility of the owner of the building. The most recent scaffolding/inspection/maintenance of our coop cost us collectively over half a million dollars. It was our responsibility and we paid it. Why would we want the government (that is to say, us taxpayers) to pay to repair other people’s properties?
Waiting to see how “free market” [sic], anti-regulation types will argue how /less/ regulation would help to prevent incidents such as these.
Where is “Cornell hospital?” There is “Weill Cornell Medical College” on York Avenue. The medical school is affiliated with what used to be called NY Hospital and now is, I believe, NY Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
The official name is now
“New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.”
The City doesn’t police construction sites because it diesnt care is humans get hurt. Construction goes on 24/7 and the DOB has very few inspectors.
As to the age of the buildings in NYC, cities in Europe have buildings that are centuries old and owners are expected to maintain them and they do! It is what is expected. If NYC insisted on the best it would get it bit developers don’t want to give is the best work and the city caves every time. We are becoming a third world country.
It is a shame a child was injured. My sympathies are with her parents and I hope for a speedy recovery,
It’s not a construction site — just a building.
The DOB and the owner have a lot of explains to do. Buildings on the UW S are covered in scaffolding regularly to inspect and repair buildings to avoid just this kind of accident. One has to wonder how effectively the law has been implemented when this kind of accident can occur.
Being that it has gotten warmer and that it is on that side of the ledge. I have a suspicion that there was an air conditioner being installed and during the process broke the bricks off. As soon as they saw what happened they pulled the air conditioner in.
That is a really good theory. And notice all the other windows in the picture have air conditioners except this one.
I read in the news this morning that the child is brain dead. Absolutely heartbreaking.
It is interesting to notice that this building (The Esplanade) began constructing a sidewalk bridge at 11pm last night and construction continued well into the middle of he night. My cynicism says that it amazing what can get done VERY FAST when u pay off the right people. I live across the street from this tragic accident. Our co-op budgets hundreds of thousands of dollars in each 5 year cycle to inspect and repair the facade of our building, per requirements of Local Law 10. Our doorman and I agreed that we did not ever remember the required work being performed on this building.
I think the scaffolding/sidewalk shed went up so quickly bc the City ordered an immediate inspection of the entire building. Don’t think the owners had a choice….although given this tragedy, it would be unthinkable that they would delay.
The root of the problem began a few decades ago when city agencies, such as DOB, wanted to save money. So instead of having the city inspect and check on work being performed, tests passing, and safety requirements being met, the city now allows contractors, architects, and testing companies to certify that their work met city code. Plenty landlords and managing companies are certifying on their own behalf that work was rectified or met code, when in reality it didn’t!
Right–it’s called self regulation. Don’t let big govt interfere. Trust private owners to do right by the public. This is what we get–in both safety and financial regulation.
@AC: Yes, self-certification by design professionals is often a problem. However, that has nothing to do with what happened here. This was an existing facade that failed due to age and weather, or perhaps as Lucien Desar suggested, the deteriorated condition could have been exacerbated by poor installation of an AC unit. DOB inspectors cannot physically inspect all of the thousands of buildings that are in the facade program (there just aren’t enough DOB officials), which is why owners are required to hire architects and engineers to inspect them.
Pointed well noted – most likely the cause.
They spent all night (noisily) constructing a sidewalk shed.
NY Post is reporting the child is brain dead…
The little girl has died. Very sad. Her parents will be donating her organs. They are indeed brave people. Our hearts go out to their entire family.
agreed.
Speaking of scaffolding, there are two or three adjoining buildings next to the bank end of Fairway on West 74 ST. These buildings have been covered with scaffolding for years. I have not seen any work being done on these buildings, or anyone going in or coming out. Does anyone know what’s happening with these properties? Thanks
yes that’s another aspect to this. Many of these sidewalk scaffolds stay up for years, all over the city. Why? A subject for another article.
So sad.