UPDATE: Carroll Street Brownstone Collapses in the Middle of the Night

Portions of a four-story brownstone at 241 Carroll Street, between Court and Smith streets, collapsed early Monday morning, but no one was injured, said police.

FDNY Division 11 was on the scene early Monday morning, as teams from MTA, ConEdison and OEM cut off utilities to the building and began surveys to determine how the structure will impact the Carroll Street subway station below when it is demolished later in the day.

According to an officer, a wall on the East side became compromised at 1:30 a.m. Monday, July 2. Though the brownstone contains three floor-through apartments, only one family was home at the time of the evacuation, said a witness familiar with the events.

Residents were evacuated from the building. An hour later, residents at 240 Carroll Street, 115 and 117 First Place, which abut the 241 Carroll Street building, were evacuated from their homes as well. A total of 15 units were affected, according to a statement from The American Red Cross, which met with and registered 21 adults and six children, and provided shelter for one family of six.

"Around 3:15, the firemen came into my bedroom with flashlights and said 'Sir, you have to leave,'" said Ed Mannix, a resident at 115 First Place, who walked around the neighborhood with a couple of grabbed belongings until opened for business. "We're in the collapse zone. So they are concerned that pieces will fall onto the building when it comes down."

Mannix stated that there was only one family home at 241 Carroll Street at the time of the wall collapse. All of the others residents were out of town.

The building owner watched from across the street as jackhammers broke through the pavement in front of the 241 Carroll Street so that teams of emergency workers could cut off the gas and electric to the brownstone. A neighbor called out that he should try to save the outside banisters.

"It's the inside banisters that I am upset about," the owner, Howard Schneider, was overheard saying. "Those took me forever to install."

Schneider declined to comment when Carroll Gardens Patch asked what he thought the cause of the collapse was. But in a quote given to The New York Times, his wife Sisi Schneider stated that she blamed "the lack of lateral support on the alley side." Though there is an open permit for contracting work currently in the building, the couple told the Times that they have not done any construction.

Despite the fact that the collapsed wall abuts an open driveway for , summer programs had not been effected, firemen said. In fact, a sea of children continued to gather with their parents across the street at Carroll Park in matching camp t-shirts. Business as usual.

The Dept. of Buildings is currently on the scene investigating and plans to bring down the rest of the building by the end of the day, officials said. Residents were prohibited from returning inside to reclaim any posessions, as the seams to the floors were visibly sagging from the street and the building deemed unsafe for reentry.

This story has been updated from its original version.