The Big Reveal: After 2 Years, Scaffolding At Home Comes Down

Man, oh, man, what a difference. After two long, enduring, frustrating, irritating, maddening years (they weren't so good), the scaffolding in front of my residence in Brooklyn Heights at last has come down.

It took a good week for crews to methodically deconstruct scaffolding from the rooftop & 10th floor down to street level—including the shed that has been outside my second-floor windows—but as of late Thursday afternoon, it was all good & gone at 62 Montague Street. And I said a little prayer of thanks that went like this: "Fuck, yeah!"

From 4 to 5 p.m., I kept cat-calling to the workers from my front window: "You're gonna finish today, right? All of it, yes? Everything, yeah?" I was itchy that when the 5 o'clock whistle blew, they'd flee before finishing.

The 1880s' Queen Anne coop, originally known as The Arlington, not only has the distinction of being a cornerstone to the entrance to Brooklyn Heights' Promenade, but is the featured pic on Wikipedia's Brooklyn Heights entry. The detailed, full-on facade rejuvenation at 62 Montague began almost exactly two years ago. And pretty she is. At last. Long last. After a near eternity. Get it?

That's the pleasant news. Unfortunately... the massive eight-story residential building just two doors up, at 68 Montague Street, has now begun its own rooftop and parapet renovation, with scaffolding going up today that will likely be in place for the next year. Why the hell would you start a project with winter only a couple months away? So in essence, one set of unsightly scaffolding is supplanted for another. Sigh... *