Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The anchorages of the Brooklyn Bridge were once used as wine cellars

The anchorages of the Brooklyn Bridge were once used as wine cellars. Back in the day (around 1883), the vaults located in the bridge anchorages were rented out offset some of the cost of the bridge construction. City records show that space was rented out for wine storage.




But why store wine in a bridge?


The 60,000-ton granite anchorages of the Brooklyn Bridge contain dark, cold spaces which reach up to 50ft in height, and maintain a temperature of approximately 60 degrees - an ideal temperature for storing some wines.

Sorry winos, the chambers of the Brooklyn Bridge are no longer used to stockpile vino. Nowadays the vaults are filled with bridge maintenance equipment.

3 comments:

Adam Goldstein said...

The Champagne company Pol Roger was the company who leased the space. I was told this from the Pol Roger company earlier this year.

Adam Goldstein
Red White & Bubbly Wines & Spirits
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Lila said...

Very cool - thanks for the info!

ajlounyinjurylaw said...

I didn't know that, that's an incredible bit of Brooklyn Bridge history.