Childs Restaurants

The Childs Restaurants building on the Coney Island Boardwalk is a New York City designated landmark on the Boardwalk at West 21st Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn. It was completed in 1923 for Childs Restaurants, an early restaurant chain and one of the largest in the United States at that time. It was designed in a resort style with Spanish Revival influence with colorful exterior terra cotta ornamentation that references its seaside location, with depictions of Poseidon, sailing ships, and sea creatures. It was a very large restaurant, with three stories and a roof garden.Childs vacated the property in 1952. The building was used as a candy factory for over 50 years but was vacant and in a state of bad repair in late 2013, when the New York City Council approved plans to redevelop the building as part of a new entertainment venue called the Seaside Park and Community Arts Center. The city expects completion of the project by the summer of 2015.A considerably smaller prior Childs location in Coney Island, built in 1917 at Surf Avenue and West 12th Street and also a designated New York City landmark, survived as a Childs until 1943. Today it is owned by Coney Island USA, an arts organization.

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