An Old Alteration

I worked, very briefly, on the restoration work at Ellis Island before it reopened as a museum in 1990. Since then I’ve been to the island twice. One of the more notable new structures there is the glass entrance canopy that runs from near the ferry landing to the Main Building. Here it is on the museum’s web page:

It turns out, the canopy is not a new structure to protect tourists from rain, it’s a re-creation of a much older structure. Here’s a picture of the Main Building from some time between 1902 and 1913:

The elevated pier bases of the canopy posts are very similar to those at the new canopy, as is the geometry of the canopy roof, but the roof cladding seems to be sheet metal rather than glass. The canopy was apparently not original but rather built shortly after the Main Building was completed in 1900.

I guess a good idea – getting people from the ferry to the Main Building dry during bad weather – is a good idea, regardless of the year.