The 1968 demolition of 95-99-103 Washington Avenue
The 1968 demolition of 95-99-103 Washington Avenue, to make was for the Twin Towers. This was not the destruction of stately old brownstones; these had more or less become eyesores by 1968.
95 Washington was the Burlingame Building, so named because it once (ca 1918) housed Westcott Burlingame, a Cadillac dealership. For several years before that it was W.M. Whitney’s automobile department. It ceased being a car dealership in 1932, and ownership was taken over by City & County Savings Bank. For a few years they rented it out to Mayfair Furniture, but in 1937 the NYS Tax Dept. moved in. The building remained State Office Building Annex until its demolition.
99 Washington was offices for half a dozen physicians and surgeons. By the early ’50s it was vacant.
103 Washington was the Stratton Building, named after the E.V. Stratton Motor Company. It was leased by NYS for many years for storage purposes, an eventually it became home to the NYS Bureau of Rights of Way, NYS Public Works Dept., Division of Standards & Purchase, and Executive Dept. Division of Safety.
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