There are so many ways to see the many bridges that connect to Manhattan. This angle isn’t as iconic as the one people love to take on Washington Street, but there’s something beautiful about the bridge in the far distance, framed by an arch of a recently restored warehouse.

Brooklyn was once nicknamed “the Walled City” because of the hundreds of warehouses that were the foundation of shipping, commerce, and industry. Empire Stores was one of the buildings erected during that time and is only a handful in the region that still retains its original brick masonry facade, schist structural walls, and heavy frame timber construction.

Today it’s a mix of retail space and privately leased space for tech and creative companies with a stunning view of the Brooklyn waterfront. I never really gave this building another look when I first started hanging out in DUMBO all the way back in the first decade of the 2000s so I was pleasantly surprised to come across it after a long stroll along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.