Sidewalk shed comes down after 11-year run on Broadway: Home to city Department of Buildings will finally see the light

What goes up must come down. But precisely when that second part actually happens is up in the air with sidewalk sheds, the ugly steel-and-wood structures that swallow up hundreds of miles of sidewalks across the city.

Last week workers began dismantling the shed that for 11 years has surrounded 280 Broadway, home to tenants including the city Department of Buildings.

"It will be the first time a number of us have seen the building without the shed," said Andrew Rudansky, senior deputy press secretary at the Buildings Department, "including me."

The building is 150 years old and landmarked, and its Tuckahoe marble facade needed repair. Located at the corner of Broadway...