Red Hook graving dock

The Red Hook graving dock, initially known as "Graving Dock One",[1] was a 730-foot-long (220 m) graving dock located at the Vigor Shipyards in Red Hook, Brooklyn in New York City.[2] In its time, the dock was considered to have contributed to making Red Hook the "center of the shipping industry in New York" and was part of the city's largest dry dock and shipping dock.[3][4]

Construction on the dock was completed in 1866 and the unit was utilized as a repair dock for large vessels until its closure in 2005, when the lease held by Stevens Technical Services expired.[5] Prior to its closure, ownership of the dock had been transferred from the initial owners, the Todd Shipyards, to Vigor after the merger of several shipyard companies.[1]

Shortly around the time of the lease's expiration, IKEA expressed their intent to purchase the property and turn it into a parking lot.[6] Conservationists argued against the purchase, stating that the dock had been created at the end of the American Civil War and would be considered eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.[7] In 2006 a comptroller for the city also noted that paving over the dock would be "premature".[8] Efforts to salvage the property included protests and a lawsuit against the United States Army.[9] These efforts were unsuccessful and the graving dock was filled in to create a parking lot.[10] The move was met with more criticism after 2008 reports stated that New York was in need of seven graving docks similar to the Red Hook graving dock.[11]

References
  1. The Architect's Newspaper, Volume 4. Architect's Newspaper, 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  2. "The Todd Shipyard Graving Dock, Red Hook, Brooklyn". Gotham Gazette. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  3. AIA Guide to New York City. Oxford University Press. 2010. p. 631. ISBN 0195383869.
  4. A Maritime History Of New York. Going Coastal Productions. 2004. p. 295. ISBN 0972980318.
  5. Gratz, Roberta Brandes (2010). The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Nation Books. pp. 183–184, 327. ISBN 1568584385.
  6. "The Red Hook Graving Dock is Toast". New York Curbed. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  7. "Sailing Into History". New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  8. Zukin, Sandra (2009). Naked City:The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places. Oxford University Press. pp. 169, 272. ISBN 0195382854.
  9. "US army sued over Ikea carpark". UK Metro. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  10. "Brooklyn Neighbors Admit a Big Box Isn't All Bad". New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  11. "IKEA BERTH PANGS". New York Post. Retrieved 10 February 2013.


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