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Empire Stores — History and Transformation: Join My 365-Day Peaceful Photo Challenge
DAY 239. Living with irrevocable differences and curating peace through contemplative photography.
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April 28, 2025
It was a cloudy late April day. Temperatures dipped.
On the water and the ferry’s upper deck, I felt the chilly breath of the wind sweeping through the channel formed by the East River.
As a gust stung me, prompting me to pull my sweater closed at the neck, my fighting eyes saw the Empire Stores building.
Instantly, I loved the building’s old, rusted-metal color brick face and low height, contrasting with the taller, more modern buildings forming its backdrop and how it kissed the shoreline.
Empire Stores is a relic of the past and a living symbol of transformation.
Once a forgotten Civil War-era warehouse from 1869, the building has been revived and repurposed as a vibrant hub of community, creativity, and history along the DUMBO waterfront.
The 450,000-square-foot marvel, with impressive two-story glass curtain walls erected atop the original structure, connects Water Street to the Brooklyn Bridge…
