Childs Restaurants (Coney Island Boardwalk location)
| Childs Restaurant Building | |
| landmark | |
 Facade from Coney Island Boardwalk
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | New York |
| Borough | Brooklyn |
| Location | 2102 Boardwalk, Brooklyn, NY |
| - coordinates | 40°34′21″N 73°59′15″W / 40.5725°N 73.9876°WCoordinates: 40°34′21″N 73°59′15″W / 40.5725°N 73.9876°W |
| Width | 100 ft (30 m) |
| Depth | 248 ft (76 m) |
| Architect | Frederic Charles Hirons & Ethan Allen Dennison |
| Style | Spanish Revival |
| Completed | 1923 |
| Status | New York City designated landmark |
 Location within New York City
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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.
The building is very large for a restaurant building, stretching for about 100 feet along the Boardwalk and for about 250 feet along West 21st Street and having three stories plus a roof garden. According to property records, it has a total of about 60,000 square feet of floor space. It was built in 1923 to provide reasonably-priced meals to the millions of city dwellers who came to Coney Island to enjoy its beaches and amusements, and to stroll along its Boardwalk, which was constructed the same year. Most visitors arrived on the New York City Subway, which reached Coney Island in 1920.
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