via Con Ed
Years ago the Brooklyn Heights townhouse at 58 Joralemon Street was unmasked for what it really is: a piece of MTA property used to hide a subway ventilator, and an emergency exit for the tunnel below it. (It's armed with silent alarms, motion detectors and other hidden security, so don't even try it! Whatever it is. Living there?). Unsurprisingly, this isn't the only townhouse in town masking something—recently Nick at Scouting NY noticed something off with a row of townhouses on Bruckner Blvd in the Bronx, which look like a New York City version of McMansions, gated and all. The stretch of "homes" look like they belong in Epcot Center or something:
Behind the doors aren't families cooking dinner, and there's no secret subway exit either... it's Con Ed’s Mott Haven Electric Substation, which was built around six years ago. At the time, the NY Times reported that "the building’s urban camouflage is typical of the lengths that Con Edison must go to these days to appease neighbors when constructing substations." Learn more about the row of townhouses, which were awarded for their design, over at Scouting.
