Site Report 3
56th block is a section between 47th St and 50th St, Brooklyn Ave and 12th Ave.
U-district gradually evolved since moving to the present place in the latter half of 1800, but as long as I see the map of 1893 on site 2, my block did not see big development in the 19th century.
Before apartments for students were made, it was clear from the map of 2000 that individual houses were lining up on 12th Ave. This means that this district is relatively new and has undergone a major change over the past two decades. Before these apartments could be built, I guess that residents in this area were not UW students, but households. The fact that ”University Height Public School”, existed in the north of this area was also discovered from the map of 1900, and this fact enhances the possibility that this neighborhood was a residential area.
One building standing on the corner of 47th St and Brooklyn Ave is the most curious in this block. Because here is currently not used and is a vacant house surrounded by yellow tapes. This building was used as a dry cleaning laundry called “Carson Cleaners” until 2012. This building has a different atmosphere from other buildings in the same district, and even after five years have passed since the laundry was closed, there is still no buyers.
Looking at the map in 1900, the upper left part of this area was an open space. Among U-district, it was divided into two kinds, a place where residential areas were dense and a place where there was an open space like this area. It is unknown why there was such an open space, but I want to clarify in the future survey whether there was any meaning.