••• I think we knew that the new penthouse atop recently converted 93 Reade (a.k.a. Obsidian House) was going to have a crinkled roof, but I don’t think we’ve actually seen it till now. Bravo! T Magazine has an article about WORKac’s design. The photo above is from WORKac’s website, but the better photos are on the New York Times website. (Don’t miss the slideshow.)

••• “1 World Trade Center gains popularity in the pantheon of New York kitsch […] You can now buy snow globes with the tower. Or paperweights. Spoon rests. Key chains. Flasks. Compacts. Shot glasses. Or sheer, provocatively cut panties known as cheekies.” —New York Times

••• A Walmart in Florida made a 9/11 display with 12-packs of soda. —Grub Street

••• “A 47-year-old woman was walking with her cell phone in her hand when a man on a bicycle snatched it and fled.” This seems to be happening with increasing frequency. (But what’s the relevance of the victim’s age?) —Tribeca Trib

••• Q&A with state assembly candidate Yuh-Line Niou. —Broadsheet

••• How does Daytonian in Manhattan do it? Now he’s digging into the history of the old firehouse at 173 Franklin. (Who knew: It has a carbon copy at 99 Wooster.)

By the time of that [1902] fire, the former dry goods district had become the wholesale produce and pharmaceutical district. The change in the tenants in the loft buildings brought with it a dangerous threat to the firefighters—chemicals which gave off toxic fumes.

It was a condition that brought unspeakable tragedy to Engine Company 27 on March 26, 1904. The Evening World reported “Every man in engine company No. 27 was disabled in a fire to-day which sent forth choking fumes of gas and smoke at No. 205 Duane street. The men fell unconscious in the burning building, and while they lay on the inside twenty other firemen, who attempted to go to their rescue also fell insensible.”

The five-story building was home to Charles Plunkett’s broom factory. It was the chemicals used to make the brooms that created the lethal fumes.

By the time Engine Company 2 responded, the men of No. 27 were all inside, unconscious or dead. “As they climbed through the smoke from the windows they were overcome and fell insensible into the arms of their comrades, who waited on the street to catch them as they fell.”

Only 30-year old firefighter Thomas McGirr was pulled out alive. It was not the first time that every man of the company was lost in their brave endeavors.  The Evening World reported “Engine Company No. 27 has been wiped out three times. McGirr is the only original member of the company, all of his old comrades having met death in the past three years.” The newspaper added “McGirr hasn’t much chance now, the doctors say.”