Exposed

I recently stumbled upon some urban archaeology while walking around Tribeca.  This lot on Greenwich and Laight Streets is being transformed into...sigh...luxury condos, of course.



Anyway, the process of demolition has revealed an interesting piece of brick artwork.



This is as close as I could zoom in.  The bricks are decorated with images of mermaids, fish, leaves, feathers, an Egyptian figure and various shapes.

 

I confirmed with one of the construction site workers that this is an old piece they uncovered and not something new.  The front of this building faces Washington Street, but I have no other information about this location (71 Laight/401 Washington) or its history, other than it was a warehouse.  If there's anyone out there who knows how this came to be, I'd love to find out.