regoosty

And yes, engine co 5 is currently situated in literally a construction trailer and a vinyl tent down on rt 440 at teh entrance of the MOT. They have began to finally start constructing the new firehouse for them on that land.

the building itself is 25x 100 ft, it occupies the entire lot, I have no yard. From what I understand and can see of the structure, originally when it was built, it was about 55 or 60 ft deep, and I heard that the stables were in the rear behind the building. Sometimes in the late 20s or early 30s, they put an addition onto the rear of the building and extended it all the way back the full 100 ft to the property line. When they did that, they sistered two 12 inch steel header beanms across the ceiling of the garage to support the span, and left the original brick wall upstairs. The exposed brick wall you see in the one shot looking into the kitchen used to be an exterior wall, which had three rear facing windows which I discovered when I demoed the crumbling plaster on that wall. You can see the one recess of the window on the left above the stainless sink which I had painstakingly removed all of the mortar and bricks from, and the doorway leading into the kitchen was another window that they busted open to make a passageway, and theres another recess for a window behind the bathroom. When they put the addition on, they also dug a basement as well. The chimney for the boiler also runs on that once exterior wall but now is inside the building. What I can figure out is that when they did the addition, along with the basement, they poured the concrete floor and instead of using rebar, actually laid out a grid of 12 inch steel i beams and poured the forms around them encasing it in the cement, you can see them from underneath when you are standing in the basement, looks like coffered ceiling, but steel and concrete with lolly columns for support. Theres also an old iron coal shoot passage and manhole cover in the floor..But what they did at the rearmost part of the addition on the ground floor at the back of the truck bay for the last 15 ft of ground level, was end the concrete and go with an oak plank floor, with a massive timber in the basement that runs the spine of it, which is tied in with the lolly columns and steel beams in the concrete floor. I am not sure why they did the last back portion of the truck bays with wood floor. One would think it was for the horses or stables indoors, but were they still running horse drawn apparatus back as late as the 1930s? Nobody seems to know why the floor went to wood back there. Its super solid, but they clearly and deliberately stopped the concrete and finsihed the last part with timbers instead. I cant seem to dig up much regarding it.

and heres an original shot taken back in 1883 of the place after it was completed

a few others. the double toilets are great if you like to s*** with a friend haha

some of the murals

heres part of the truck bays. one of the poles that I was supposed to get is on the right, but thanks to the seller, im sure its melted down and hes got his money for it. Because I know how much more important a couple of bucks is today than it would be to actually revere and keep a piece of history alive

some others from before i moved in. the mess isnt mine

heres a larger one

heres a before and after pic of how it was when i bought it and i did just some clean up. I eventually plan to take down the 3 fron doors and design and build a set of really substantial 12 ft high doors that look like they belong on the place made from wood, metal and glass. I also have to rebuild the right column that used to be brick like the other one, but one of the rookies blew it off the building pulling the truck out from what i understand so they just patched it up with 2x12s

yes, I have looked at the mcintyre brass works, they sell the whole system, its not cheap for sure, but I just want to poles and dont have 10-15 grand for them hahah. is there a way to insert images in my post? ill put up some shots for you guys

Hi! I am actually the owner of the old 34th st firehouse in Bayonne. I came across this board while i was doing some research on my building. The firehouse was sold by the city at a public auction and a local guy had bought it and told everyone he was going to restore it and got everyone all excited, he then immediately turned around and put it up for sale and thats when I came across it and purchased it about 2 years ago From the moment I stepped inside I thought it was so cool, nobody had touched it yet, and it was still in the condition it had been when they shut it down back in 2008 and locked it up and moved out. So it still had/has all of the original elements inside. I was really lucky that nobody had started doing any renovations on it and ruining it. Theres paint peeling off the walls, plaster coming down, urinals in the bathrooms, stall showers, 26 original chestnut lockers still with a lot of the old fireman's stuff hanging inside them like tatoo parlor cards they went to, and old p**** mags and old school original subway tiles in the kitchen and baths. The original tin ceilings are still intact, all of the old garment and hose racks and features of the place. Theres also a whole slew of hand painted murals on a lot of the walls with the engine company and their old mascot which was a bulldog with a fire helmet on. Theres a 7 ft mural of this staring you in the face in the back room that will ultimately be the master bedroom. Theres also a list of about 300 names of all of the officers and chiefs who have retired over the years on the bulkhead above the kitchen cabinets. I plan on keeping all of it as original as I can. I respect the history of the place and what it stood for for the city and I dont mind the roughness around the edges of the place....it adds character and I dont want to erase it. I do plan at some point to have the mural in the kitchen with all the names of the retired duplicated on a big plate of brass and mount it outside on the garage door along the bottom like a giant brass kick plate so that people around town can appreciate those who have served here. That may take a while though since a) it will be pretty expensive to have made, and I have a list of about 800 other things I plan to address with the place as well. The place is pretty bitchin though, its about 5000 sq ft and has plenty of room, I wash my car inside my house while its parked next to my living room haha. It is a b**** to heat and cool, but its super solid and has stood for the past 130 years and I plan to do my best to preserve it and have it stand for another 130 more. A number of the old firemen who worked here that I have met at first thought I was some douchebag condo developer who was going to tear the place down or make it into apartments, I told them I planned on keeping it as the original firehouse and they were welcome to come by anytime they liked, and they seemed to appreciate that. I have plans for the place that center around keeping it as original as possible, I like the quirks and imperfections of the building, it tells its story. I cant tell you how much wood floors and trim i have to strip of paint, adhesive, linoleum etc. hiding under all that is gorgeous chestnut and oak and old heart pine. thats going to be a b****, but itll be worth it. But rest assured, I plan to keep the place intact as the spirit of the place alive. No hokey HGTV style renovations with modern finishes and sheetrock...If I had wanted that I could have bought a condo, I really admire the old buildings and craftsmanship that went into them. So if it matters to any of you, old E5 in bayonne is in good hands. Itll prob take me 10 years to finish the place, but Im in no rush hahaha. What I would like to ask, in case anyone knows or could help, is, I am trying to find 2 old brass firepoles for the building. Originally there was one in the front, and one in the back. Both had been removed and they were given back to the guy who bought the property from the city. The bayonne fire museum had given him two brass poles to put back in when they found out he had bought the place, in good faith. They were here and promised to me when i was buying the building. Well a day or two before I closed on the place, he took both poles and probably scrapped them for the brass, who knows....I thought it was a shitty thing to do, and the fire museum agreed. Point is I never got any poles, but I have the two openings, just nothing to slide down. EVERY SINGLE person I meet, the first question they ask is always "Do you have a pole?" Id love to put the two poles back in so if any of you happens to know of any old poles not in use, or a place that makes them, or a station thats being decommissioned etc, please let me know! It would be sweet if I could get some brass poles back in here. I have tried calling places, go go dance suppliers, railing companies etc. they have brass poles, but when I tell them i need 23 ft long they are like ohhhhhh, we dont have that long. So the poles that were in here were 2.5 inch OD x @23 ft long. Just figured it couldnt hurt to put it out there in case any of you happens to know of some old firepoles laying around. Thanks!