8. Brooklyn Army Terminal
The Brooklyn Army Terminal, also known as the “US Army Military Ocean Terminal and the “Brooklyn Army Base,” was development by the Federal Government starting in 1918 as a supply base and military depot. The structure featured 96 push-button elevators and was designed with “girder-less, steel reinforced concrete slabs.” The Brooklyn Army Terminal was built with a utilitarian style which was vastly different from Cass Gilbert’s preferred Gothic and Beaux Arts styles.
The terminal was most used during WWII when it housed over 20,000 people ranging from military to civilians. The site even deployed Elvis Presley as he was met with a swarm of fans in 1958 at the dock before shipping off to Europe for the war. The terminal was active until the beginning of the19 70s until it was purchased in 1981 by the government and transformed into a manufacturing and industrial complex, run by the NYCEDC.