7. Rescue 2 Firehouse

Mid-block on Bergen Street between Troy and Schenectady avenues is the FDNY Rescue 2 firehouse, a curious holdout on a block that is along the northern edge of St. John’s Park and the back athletic facilities of a charter school. Rescue 2 was the first rescue unit chartered by the FDNY outside of Manhattan, following the a submarine fire at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The firemen who work in rescue units are the cream of the crop and this unit specifically was involved in responding to the 1960 Park Slope plane crash, 9/11, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Rescue 2 has been at the 1472 Bergen Street location since 1985.

Soon the 1893 building will become a decommissioned firehouse when Rescue 2 moves to a new firehouse designed by Studio Gang that is nearing completion on the border of Crown Heights and Brownsville. The new design won the Award for Excellence in Design in 2015 from the Public Design Commission, New York, 2015. The Bergen Street firehouse is owned by the city and we are told by someone familiar with the FDNY that is “kicking around a few ideas at the moment” about what to do with the structure after.