You can find those words inscribed above quite a few doorways around the city. I believe the buildings thus labeled were constructed back in the golden days of the Bell System as central offices, housing switching equipment, operators, and the like. Many still seem to be functioning as telecommunication centers, but some have been adapted for other uses over the years. As you can probably tell, this particular Telephone Building — whose 1914 expansion you can read about in this contemporaneous account, under the "New Stagg Central Office" subheading — has been converted into apartments, complete with Sukkot balconies.
Currently a watch and jewelry store, this was once the main branch of the Lincoln Savings Bank. Check out this wonderful recounting (just a little more than halfway down the page) of what it was like to work there around 1970.
Lincoln was originally founded as the German Savings Bank of Brooklyn in 1866, but changed its name to something more patriotic-sounding (page 54) in response to the growing anti-German sentiment in America around the time of World War I.
This mural was painted by students under the direction of a couple of artists from BRIC.
The base of this column is cemented into the bucket! Here's a close-up.
when you lay concrete in the fall. Here's a closer look.
At least these guys are safer to walk beneath than the three-dimensional variety.
