Overview

The Fire Department of New York has a long and rich tradition of classic NYC firehouses, valued by both FDNY and the communities it serves. As housing for fire apparatus, and as living quarters for firefighters, a firehouse is a heavily used building that must be durable while conveying a rich sense of character and warmth. Many of these venerable houses still function today, in an environment completely different from that for which they were designed, attesting to the validity of their original design.

The new FDNY Marine 9 Barracks is an important component of NYCEDC's area-wide redevelopment of the former Navy Homeport site in Stapleton, Staten Island, known as the New Stapleton Waterfront Project. The barracks will provide a highly functional marine firehouse facility ensuring rapid response capabilities for this marine fire unit, which serves all of New York Harbor.

About the Facility

A new facility for the Fire Department of New York has been designed and constructed in the spirit of classic fire houses. The facility is located at the former Navy Homeport in Stapleton, along Staten Island's northern shore. An important project goal is to insure a durable, low maintenance, affordable, and sustainable structure for FDNY.

The new barracks, situated on the 1,410-foot long Homeport Pier, will include standard program elements of any fire house serving a land company. These include sleeping, locker and changing facilities, a kitchen and sitting area, offices and a garage/workshop to facilitate boat repairs and maintenance. It will provide essential storage and work spaces to support the FDNY Marine 9 Response Unit. In addition to the building, the project will construct docks, a breakwater, and necessary utilities and services to accommodate the FDNY boat docked here.

The Homeport Pier was transferred to the city in 1994 along with the entire Homeport facility as part of the Base Closure Community Assistance Act of 1994. By agreement with the City, the pier is currently used for selective events by the Navy (Fleet Week); the temporary relocation of the aircraft carrier Intrepid during its restoration; and it is the home dock of The Firefighter, Marine 9 Company's boat.

Conceptually the building is comprised of two stacking volumes which mimic and mirror the volumes of the adjacent fire boat. These volumes are shifted to create areas of circulation for public and private access. Sustainability is integrated through means of a green roof, passive solar strategies, natural daylight and ventilation through utilizing the stack effect. In addition, construction materials being specified will be sourced locally and/or contain recycled materials.

The proposed site is within the Special Waterfront District at the land-side of the Homeport Pier platform structure, nearest the intersection of Front Street and the de-mapped Baltic Street and its associated view corridor. The proposed fire house for Marine 9 Company will occupy only a portion of the Homeport Pier, respecting required view corridors and future public access rights-of-way.

Community and Neighborhood Context

Stapleton is one of Staten Island's most walkable urban communities with a town center dating to the early 19th century.

The community's history is strongly identified with the waterfront. Ferry service in the area dates to 1752. During World War II, both the US Army and the US Navy used the Stapleton Waterfront as the New York State Port of Embarkation. After the war, the waterfront fell into disrepair as the shipping industry moved to New Jersey.

The Stapleton Waterfront will be transformed from an underused industrial enclave to a mixed-use extension of the Stapleton Town Center. When complete, this redevelopment will include 12 acres of waterfront public access.

The Stapleton Waterfront site is comprised of the 35-acre homeport site and eighteen lots west of Front Street and east of the Staten Island Rapid Transit line. Former Navy homeport buildings now on the site would be razed to prepare the site for redevelopment.

Main access to the Stapleton Waterfront site is from Front Street, which runs north-south through the site. Five east-west streets connect the site to Bay Street, which is one block inland. Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT), which is a half-block inland, has three stations serving the site. The St. George Ferry Terminal, which provides the Staten Island Ferry connection to lower Manhattan, is a five-minute train ride to the north.