Brooklyn features a fake townhouse located at 58 Joralemon Street that actually hides a massive subterranean ventilation shaft for the New York City subway system.

A closer look

Brooklyn features a fake townhouse located at 58 Joralemon Street that actually hides a massive subterranean ventilation shaft for the New York City subway system. Passersby see what looks like a normal, albeit oddly dark, brick facade with blacked-out windows, completely unaware that behind the door lies an empty industrial void roaring with the sound of incoming trains. The city built it in 1908 to expel stale air from the underground tunnels, effectively tricking wealthy neighborhood residents into thinking they lived next to a quiet family instead of a massive exhaust pipe. It is the perfect architectural lie, combining overpriced real estate with public infrastructure. Sadly, even though it is completely uninhabitable and entirely hollow, it is probably still worth roughly five million dollars in today's housing market