U.S. Lighthouse Service General Depot

U.S. Lighthouse Service General Depot. . , OIL VAULTS , Constructed in 1864 , National Register of Historic Places, Six masonry vaults were constructed to hold the lard, sperm, and mineral oils that were used to illuminate lighthouses before electrification. Experimental studies on fuels conducted here at the Depot benefitted lighthouse operations throughout the country. The small brick building between the Vaults and the Barracks was once a laboratory (shown on the map as Building 5). Its separate location suggests safety considerations., Five of the six vaults are 51 feet long, 21 feet wide and over 13 feet tall. The sixth vault is about half that size. Brick arches for the ceilings of the vaults, and the massive brownstone wall containing the iron vault doors is more than two feet thick. Earth fill and vegetation cover the roof of the vaults, which, at the turn of the last century, was covered with grass and was one of the first tennis courts in the United States., BARRACKS , Built 1864 – or earlier , National Register of Historic Places, Constructed as a warehouse, this building is not only the oldest on the site but may even predate the depot. It has a gabled roof with simple cornices, a symmetrical and unadorned façade punctuated by plain six over six double-hung windows. The building is in Greek Revival, a style popular on the East Coast in the 1840s and 1850s. Some sources believe the building dates from that period which would make it the lone Staten Island remnant of the U.S. Revenue service. One researcher found documentation that the building used to temporarily house overflow patients from the Quarantine Hospital. Others believe the building dates to 1864 but has both the style and structure of an earlier era. In the early 1940s, the building became a barracks for personnel from distant Coast Guard operations.