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FULTON FISH MARKET FIRE
Fire from the Bridge, Courtesy Barbara Mensch.
Installation view
On March 29,1995, a four-alarm blaze tore through the 1907 Tin Building, destroying the top two floors of the Fulton Fish Market’s oldest standing structure. Photographer Barbara Mensch captured the thick plumes of smoke obscuring the New York skyline. As the Daily News suggested in its headline, there was “Something Fishy” about the rapidly spreading fire, just days after the Giuliani Administration passed laws to counter Mob control of the market.
The Tin Building was a vital part of the Fulton Fish Market. Fishmongers unloaded seafood using hooks - such as those seen on display here. Barbara Mensch’s photographs, both on exhibit and in her book South Street, show the market’s inner-workings and its evolution during its final years. The market relocated to Hunts Point, in the Bronx, in 2005.
