House on Beach 90th Street, Rockaway, 2012-2014 (Robert Moses House)

I photographed this house before Hurricane Sandy, and then immediately after the storm deposited the Rockaway boardwalk in front of the house.  Since then I've gone back several times to monitor reconstruction.  What struck me at first was the unusual shape of the house.  It was one of a pair, but seemed to have a piece of its south side sliced off.  Shore Front Parkway was part of Robert Moses' plan to build an expressway from New York City to Montauk.  This was one small section that he completed.  I believe that the house was sliced up to make way for the highway (see satellite photograph at the bottom.)

Google Satellite photograph

New York City Water Tunnel No. 3

A few photographs from the 1990s of the structures underneath the ventilation towers from the previous post:

Jamaica Water Supply

Beginning in 1897, the Jamaica Water Supply provided drinking water to parts of Queens from a series of wells and water storage tanks.  After the city took over the system it was shut down in 2007, and people in southeastern Queens were connected to the city's main water supply.  Some of the wells were polluted, but in general the water was not the highest quality.  With repairs about to be made on one of the large upstate supply tunnels, NYCDEP plans to reactivate some of the wells. The wells are not secret, but they are difficult to find.  Using various city inventories and databases I was able to locate all of them.  Most are located on residential blocks, fenced in, with a few telltale structures, but completely unmarked.  Others are in the midst of other industrial sites.