3. Shortest Lived Building: Mount Vernon Replica

A replica of Mount Vernon in Prospect Park
The Replica of Mount Vernon in Prospect Park. Image from Brooklyn Historical Society via Prospect Park Alliance

In 1932, Robert Moses had a replica of Mount Vernon built in Prospect Park to mark the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. The building, constructed by Sears, Roebuck & Company (who also delivered another replica to the Exposition Coloniales Internationale in Paris in 1931) and designed by architect Charles K. Bryant, lasted a mere two years before being torn down. The house was located at the base of Lookout Hill on the Peninsula of the Lake.

Before this, the original Grand Central (not a terminal then, just a station) was torn down less than three years before it had been completed in 1900. Find out how long New York City’s other shortest-lived buildings, including the lost Crystal Palace, Folk Art Museum, and another Grand Central, were able to hold out.