A Jazz 'Funeral' to Mourn Lost Buildings in Southern Tribeca

The procession, accompanied by a New Orleans-style Jazz Band, The Swing Street Ensemble, pauses on Murray Street. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

“We didn’t want to do the traditional rally,” said Lynn Ellsworth, president of the preservation group, Tribeca Trust. “We wanted something a little more fun.”

Fun it was, especially for a “funeral.”

The grieving, in the style of a New Orleans jazz procession, was for the buildings south of Chambers Street that are either destined for demolition or have already been brought down. Ellsworth points a finger at the Landmarks Preservation Commission for declining requests to expand the Tribeca South Historic District and protect historically worthy buildings.  

The marchers, stepping to the sounds of the Swing Street Ensemble and carrying a “coffin” created by local artist Eileen Herman, made their way along Murray, then Warren Street, ending at West Broadway and Warren.  There, the group gazed across the street at the block of six buildings soon to be torn down and replaced with a 12-story, 23-unit condominium project. “They’re part of our neighborhood,” Ellsworth said of the stretch of vacated buildings where the neon sign of the Raccoon Lodge was the only remaining sign of life, for now. “It’s tragic to see them go.

“I live around the corner,” said Will Meyerhofer, whose apartment is nearby on Murray Street. “So every day I want to cry to see what they’re doing.”