Five Stories of Furst Hall Scaffolding Collapses with No Injuries; Student and Child Escape with Seconds

Five stories of scaffolding on the Amsterdam Avenue side of Furst Hall suddenly collapsed at around 9:15 Sunday morning. No injuries were reported, although a Yeshiva University student and her child escaped the collapse with only seconds to spare.

According to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB), the fall was caused by the collapse of a 70’ by 6’ section of brick facade. A firefighter told The Commentator that although nobody was injured, there were two close calls, with a driver backing into a spot having the back of his pickup truck hit by debris and one woman on the sidewalk stepping out from beneath the scaffolding moments before the collapse. The woman’s husband reached out to The Commentator to share that he and his wife are both YU students.

“My wife was walking with my toddler son under the scaffolding as it began to collapse,” the student, who requested his name not be publicized, told The Commentator. “When she heard things falling, she made a run for dear life with my son in the stroller and just made it out moments before the collapse, bichasdei HaShem [with the kindness of God].”

The student called it “unsettling” that YU allowed for an unsafe “construction culture,” and expressed hope that YU would “immediately address this issue to ensure the safety of all the inhabitants of Washington Heights.”

Other students also described the moments of the collapse.

“It was approximately 9:15 when all of a sudden I hear what sounds like an explosion,” Aryeh Bluth (YC ‘27) told The Commentator. “I thought maybe a car exploded or something. I went downstairs and walked out of Rubin when I saw it. A pile of rubble laying across the sidewalk and parts of Amsterdam Avenue. The scaffolding on the side of Furst hall had collapsed.” 

“There has been a scaffolding collapse on the 185th Street Pedestrian Plaza outside the Belz Building,” an email sent to students at 9:44 a.m. said. “No injuries were reported. The Police and Fire Departments are on the scene. Please avoid the area.” A later email sent at 10:24 a.m., reporting the closure of Furst Hall and parts of Amsterdam Avenue and 185th Street by the Fire Department, did not correct the error in the location of the collapse, which took place on Amsterdam Avenue.

According to a firefighter on scene, the FDNY was ensuring that the unaffected scaffolding was secured. They were also looking for anyone who may have been trapped. Over eight vehicles from FDNY were present at the scene. NYPD and DOB were also present.

A high school chess tournament hosted by the YU Chess Club was set to be held on the fifth floor of Furst Sunday morning but was moved to Rubin Shul after the collapse. 

“It was shocking to see the broken windows and shards of glass that littered the floor where we were actively setting up the high school chess tournament,” Shoshana Fisher (SCW ‘26) told The Commentator. “While the firefighters originally gave us permission to continue using the room, they soon expressed concerns that the scaffolding would further collapse and might fall in the direction of the building, which could injure the people in the room.” 

Construction on Furst Hall has been ongoing for several years. In 2022, YU released plans to renovate Furst Hall and rename it the Belz Building after the Belz family donated $20 million. The original plan included a full renovation of the exterior and interior, reflecting a modern style of architecture and building technology. The exterior was set to have an entirely glass facade.

Several professors and students had complained in the past that the construction caused too much noise during school hours and some have even requested to be moved out of the building. The YU facilities department has previously not responded to inquiries by The Commentator about construction at Furst Hall.

Political Science Professor Maria Zaitseva told The Commentator that the drilling had “reached unacceptable levels” of noise and that she had to move both her Furst Hall classes to two other buildings. She said that faculty were not warned about the construction, and the facilities department had “no appreciation for the fact that Belz houses academic offices and classrooms which are all seriously disrupted by this construction.

“Both Dean Cypess and Dean Stenhouse were appreciative of and apologetic about the situation. It appears that the Facilities department operates completely separately and does not communicate effectively with the academic Deans or admin.” 

Students also commented on how the construction has disrupted their learning. “The construction constantly disrupts class,” Eitan Schulman (YC ‘25), a student in Zaitseva’s American Foreign Policy course, told The Commentator. “They can plan the construction to be done during summer break … or not during class hours.” 

“I was in class, and we had to end class early because we could not hear the professor,” Jonah Adler (YC ‘28) said, “It’s an academic building; basically, all my classes are in Furst Hall, and they should take that into consideration in their construction schedule.”

“A section of sidewalk scaffolding fell on the Amsterdam side of YU’s Belz Building this morning,” Randy Apfelbaum, YU’s chief facilities & and administrative officer told The Commentator. “There were no injuries.  The NYPD, FDNY and the Department of Buildings have been on site to assess the situation and have determined that the building is safe.  Currently the area is being cleaned and the scaffolding is being repaired. Once that is completed the building will be able to be reoccupied.”

The DOB has since issued a partial stop work order on Furst Hall.

This is a developing story.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional information as it became available.

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Photo caption: Scaffolding collapse on the Amsterdam Avenue side of Furst Hall

Photo credit: Daniel Kohn / The Commentator