Images from the Gate 2 demolition (source: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

After ongoing efforts by historians and preservationists to save the famed “Gate 2″ at the former Yankee Stadium, the structure was demolished, according to NYC Park Advocates, a non-profit park advocacy group. Although the city design commission had vetoed saving the gate when it filed its official plans for the demolition, Yankee enthusiasts had lobbied almost up until the day of demolition. The former Yankee Stadium is being transformed into playing fields for the community, a concession made in exchange for taking 25 acres of parkland to build the new stadium. NYC Park Advocates and other community groups had opposed saving the gate, according to a statement from the advocacy organization. TRD [more]

Proponents of saving Gate 2, an historic remnant of the old Yankee stadium, are arguing that preserving the structure will cost less money than demolishing it. Although the Parks Department has already said that it plans to destroy the gate, preservationists say saving it will cost as little as $1 million — due to fundraising efforts and volunteer contractors. Save the Yankee Gate 2 preservationist group co-head Mark Costello said that saving the gate is integral to maintaining the community’s history. “Preserving Gate 2 is the best way to provide the needed historical, architectural and cultural link back to the 1920s,” Costello said.