Windsor Terrace Fire Box

I wasn't intending to do a whole series about the Windsor Terrace fire station at the corner of Prospect and Greenwood Avenues, but after posting the last two drawings of the fire house and its truck, and some older drawings of the building, I remembered that I'd done this drawing of a fire alarm post that I never posted. It's located on the corner opposite the fire house.

According to this post on Untapped Cities, at least a third of these emergency boxes don't work, only 2.6% of the calls the FDNY receives come from these boxes, and of those calls, 88% are false alarms. I'm not sure why this particular fire box was located where it is, directly across from a fire house! Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg made efforts to remove them, but like everything in New York City, the fireboxes have their supporters and they remain.

Engine 240/Battalion 48

This is my local fire house, in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, NY. It is the home of FDNY Engine 240/Battalion 48.

In 1894, the city of Brooklyn (at this point still independent of New York City) annexed the towns of Flatbush, Gravesend, New Utrecht, and Flatlands, and subsequently began a campaign to replace the old firehouses of the volunteer fire departments of those towns with modern facilities for companies of professional firefighters. This one, at the Southern end of Prospect Ave., was constructed in 1895. It was designed by Peter J. Lauritzen, a Danish immigrant who designed eight other firehouses for the Brooklyn Fire Department, five of which are still extant. 

ca 1895, via NYC Landmarks Commission Report

Lauritzen used the same Romanesque Revival Style for other Brooklyn firehouses. It is faced with Wyoming bluestone, Indiana limestone, and pressed brick. As seen in this historical photo, the exterior looks very much the same as when it was built, except for the conical roof atop the oriel turret, and the doors to the interior, which was a horse stable rather than a garage for trucks at the time.

I've drawn this firehouse before. These were done between 2014 and 2015. I'd done a series of firehouse drawings. I don't often re-visit old subjects, but seeing this old work makes me want to go back and re-do them all! And come back and draw this firehouse in another six years and see how I've changed.

Reference:

Brownstoner: The Little Fortress Watching Over Windsor Terrace Since 1896

NYC Landmarks Commission

Pumper

Fire truck parked outside my local firehouse. It took me three days to draw it. Not because it's complicated, but because it kept leaving for emergency calls. Then I would find it parked in the same spot the next day.

Process shots. I forgot to take a picture of the pencil sketch. Here's the initial ink drawing.  

First color layers.