Harlem Bespoke: The only remaining fire watchtower in the city from the 1800s has been missing since 2015 but restoration efforts have now revealed a brand new local landmark. An older photo up top shows what was left of the Mount Morris Fire Watchtower at the top of Marcus Garvey Park several years ago and the lower image is that of the rebuilding stage in the past year.
Everything had actually been dismantled and all of the missing parts were replicated within the past 4 years. What is interesting is that the original color must have been matched by analyzing the layers of paint and an off white color has now been revealed. This would actually make a lot of sense logistically since the tower probably needed to stand out amongst the trees and the pale color would really standout for those looking for its location by Fifth Avenue and 122nd Street.
Fireman used to signal the large bell to indicate the location of burning infernos since visibility on the mount was the highest point in Central Harlem. Hopefully this will sort of become uptown's landmark Vessel that visitors can go up the steps and check out the impressive views. The Mount Morris Fire Watchtower was originally built in 1812 and is therefore one of the neighborhood's oldest example of historic architecture. Check out what the mount looked like in the more recent years in our past post:
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HarlemBespoke.com 2019
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