The Brooklyn Navy Yard

New York City’s largest and oldest industrial facility, the?historic Brooklyn Navy Yard occupies 250-acres on the East?River between the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, and?is presently one of New York City’s major industrial sites. One?of the last remnants of Brooklyn’s industrial supremacy, the?Yard has experienced tremendous change: functioning from the?age of wind to that of diesel. As a cradle of naval evolution,?the Yard has had to reinvent itself constantly, and this is made?evident by the presence of buildings and structures spanning?from the 1830s to the 1950s. The Navy Yard was shut down?in 1966 and reopened again in 1971 when the City of New?York bought it with the intention of redevelopment. Great ships?are still repaired there, and the Yard, now an industrial park?with a variety of manufacturers and light industries, functions?as a refuge from a city that has mostly forgotten that a mixed?economy is a key to its survival.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard, the first monograph by John?Bartelstone, offers a quiet and striking look at the Yard as?a time capsule of industrial New York. The Yard today is a?fusion of the sublime and the practical, with eerie abandoned?elements existing side by side with vibrant businesses.?Bartelstone’s camera is partial to the former. The images?show a place out of time, where World War II New York is still?palpable. Bartelstone has been photographing the buildings?and structures of the Yard since 1994. His photographs are?neither a history of the Navy Yard nor a depiction of its role as?a modern industrial park; the book instead offers a structured?impression of a dreamscape. More

John Bartelstone is a New York based architectural?photographer. He originally trained as a recording engineer at?Syracuse University. After working in the recording industry?for a few years, he enrolled in the Master of Architecture?program at Columbia University and upon graduation,?began a ten-year architecture career. That time was spent?in the Engineering Department of the Port Authority of New?York and New Jersey, where a love for infrastructure was?further kindled. Then, in 1996 he started a new career as a?freelance architectural photographer.

Thomas Flagg works as a researcher and instructor at the?State University of New York, College of Optometry. Since?1966 he has been researching the Port of New York and its?railroads, leading to professional documentation of industrial?sites in connection with cultural resource surveys. He is a?founding member of the Rail Maritime Information Group.?He is also a member and past president of the Society of?Industrial Archeology, and the author of two books about the?rail history of New York Harbor. More