5. Watchtower Sign
On the Brooklyn waterfront for the past 70 years, the iconic Watchtower sign has stood on top of the former Jehovah’s Witnesses building in Brooklyn Heights. When the owners of the former Witness HQ moved upstate to Warwick, New York, in 2017 they took the Watchtower sign with them.
Installed 40 years ago by the Witnesses, the sign, stood 15 feet tall. The building was sold to Columbia Heights Associates in 2016, a group of developers who will be converting the building into a massive, multi-building office and retail space called Panorama. In 2019, a new sign went up that says “WELCOME.” The new WELCOME sign was designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. It measures 80 feet wide and 15 feet tall. The size and color were inspired by the original WATCHTOWER sign. The sign is accompanied by a rotating time and temperature display. The new sign can be seen by drivers on the Brooklyn Bridge.