Historic clock tower in Queens helps adjacent skyscraper project

New York

THE hands have not moved in decades, and the lights behind them went dark a year ago. But the gargoyles still glower atop the Long Island City clock tower, alongside its castellated turret, copper windows and granite shields.

Fourteen storeys is nothing in today's booming neighbourhood, but until 1990, the brown-brick structure at 29-27 Queens Plaza North was the tallest commercial building in Queens. Even still, it transfixes residents of this low-slung borough.