Pier A

Jutting out from the southwestern tip of Manhattan in Battery Park, Pier A has the distinguished honor of being the oldest pier in New York City. Unfortunately, its years are showing, and it is in dire need of a pretty major makeover. Fortuitously, it will soon be receiving one, courtesy of a $30-million restoration budget from the city that the Landmarks Preservation Commission recently approved.

Built in 1886, Pier A was initially a no-frills brick building that served as an outpost for the New York Harbor Police and housed the Department of Docks. But in 1900, a three-story front section and aluminum siding were added and, in 1919, a clocktower was placed atop the structure as the nation's first World War I memorial.

In its heyday, the Victorian-looking building with a green roof and tan paint was know for welcoming such celebrities as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and the Queen of England. As time passed, it lived up to its name -- the "A" stands for "administrative" -- by becoming an office complex for the various government entities that managed the waterfront. And in 1964, the FDNY took over the building, stripping it of its metal siding, gutting the inside to convert it into a workshop, and using it as a docking station for fire boats.

By 1975, the building had fallen into such disrepair that it took being declared a national landmark to save it from demolition. The pier has been completely closed for more than two decades, and is reportedly sinking into the Hudson.

All that will change with the Battery Park City Authority's $30 million stabilization and restoration, which is set to begin this May and is aiming for completion by spring 2011. The BPC is currently in search of a tenant for the building, hoping to attract both commercial and retail enterprises so Pier A's second lease on life is a fruitful one.

By Tom