![Kickstarter HQ façade, October 2014 (15520898035)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Kickstarter_HQ_fa%C3%A7ade%2C_October_2014_%2815520898035%29.jpg)
The Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory is a former pencil factory complex in
Greenpoint,
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Designated as a historic district by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(NYCLPC) in 2007, it is composed of nine buildings spread across two blocks.
The factory was founded by
John Eberhard Faber
John Eberhard Faber (sometimes Johann Eberhard Faber; December 6, 1822 – March 2, 1879) was a German-born American manufacturer of pencils in New York.
Biography
Johann Eberhard Faber was born on December 6, 1822 in the village of Stein, near t ...
, the great-grandson of 18th-century pencil entrepreneur
Kaspar Faber
Kaspar Faber (1730 – 1784) was a German entrepreneur. He was the founder of the well-known stationery company now known as Faber-Castell.
Life and work
After finishing school, Faber trained as a carpenter. In 1758 he moved from the town of ...
. The younger Faber established the United States' first pencil factory in
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in 1866. Following a fire six years later, Faber moved to a larger location in Greenpoint, which expanded through the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the acquisition or addition of several buildings. Faber's children split the company from its German parent in 1898, and it remained in Greenpoint until 1956, when it moved to Pennsylvania. Today part of the complex is in use as the
Kickstarter headquarters
The headquarters of Kickstarter, an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation and crowdfunding platform for creative projects, are in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint, a neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. The three-stor ...
, while other portions of the complex have been converted to residential, commercial or industrial uses.
History
Context
The Faber family started making lead pencils in 1761 when
Kaspar Faber
Kaspar Faber (1730 – 1784) was a German entrepreneur. He was the founder of the well-known stationery company now known as Faber-Castell.
Life and work
After finishing school, Faber trained as a carpenter. In 1758 he moved from the town of ...
set up a factory in Germany.
John Eberhard Faber, his great-grandson, traveled to the United States in 1849,
where he bought
Eastern redcedar
''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico a ...
.
Two years later he opened a
stationery
Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...
store at 133 William Street in the
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
of
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
.
In 1861 Faber also established the country's first pencil factory in the eastern part of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
between 41st and 43rd Streets, on the present day site of the
headquarters of the United Nations
zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas
, image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg
, im ...
.
The original factory burned down in a fire on May 30, 1872, causing $250,000 in damages.
Faber moved to a larger location within three existing buildings in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn ...
, though the offices stayed in Manhattan.
The new factory, which was chosen due to their proximity to ferries, was operational within three months.
At the time, Greenpoint was predominantly a manufacturing district.
Its largest industries were shipbuilding, porcelain and pottery, and glassworks, but the area had other industrial concerns such as brass and iron foundries; breweries; drug plants; book, furniture, box, and boiler makers; sugar refineries; and machine shops. The Eberhard Faber factory itself manufactured other items, which according to ''The New York Times'' included "eyebrow pencils, eyeliners, fountain pens, thumbtacks and pencil cases".
Eberhard Faber died in 1879, soon after the company's move to Brooklyn.
The company would become one of the world's largest pencil makers and would continue to operate the Brooklyn factory during this time, though it also opened factories in other locations such as Argentina, Canada, and Germany.
Expansion
![Thepencilfactorycondos jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Thepencilfactorycondos_jeh.jpg)
Over the next twenty years, the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory complex was expanded with several buildings. The first such building, located at 100–106 West Street predated the factory itself, having been erected in the mid-1860s as a real estate investment for local resident and iron merchant Francis N. Gove. Another building predating the factory was 98 West Street, built by the Faience Manufacturing Company circa 1870. These structures, originally three stories, both received a fourth floor around 1901.
Additional structures were built in the 1880s. The four-story 37 Greenpoint Avenue, at the corner with West Street, was built in 1881 by S.A. Valentine and taken over by Faber in the late 1880s, whereupon it was used as a mailing address and for offices. The three-story 76 Kent Street, on the south side of the street, was built at some point from 1886 to 1904 and was originally used as a
stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...
before being taken over by Faber for storage in the early 20th century.
Eberhard Faber's children split the company from its German parent in 1898.
Structures built afterward were larger and had architecture that complemented the existing buildings. The facade running along 58–70 Kent Street incorporates three former factory structures: the German Renaissance Revival structure at 60–64 Kent Street, as well as two demolished strictures, the German Renaissance Revival building at 66–70 Kent Street and the Italianate building at 58 Kent Street. This facade includes a brick
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
, cast-iron
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
s, segmental windows, and
courses of
dentil
A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Reviv ...
.
Three other German Renaissance Revival buildings were constructed in the complex at the turn of the 20th century. The first was the five-story 39–45 Greenpoint Avenue, built by the Valentine family in 1901. The second, a three-story structure with basement at 72–74 Kent Street, was built in 1904–1908 and possibly made specifically for the Faber factory. The third was the five-story building at 59–63 Kent Street, on the north side of Kent Street across from the main factory complex, originally connected to the main complex by a footbridge on the fourth floor.
A final building at 47–61 Greenpoint Avenue was built in 1923–1924 in the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style.
The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company announced its plans to move to
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in th ...
, in 1955. The following year, the company moved to Pennsylvania and the factory was sold to a syndicate.
By 2000, the old factory was being renovated into manufacturing and office space for several small companies. By the mid-1980s, two of the buildings in 58–70 Kent Street had been destroyed, while 76 Kent Street had been partly converted into a residential building.
The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory historic district on October 30, 2007. In 2011,
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
purchased several of the buildings in the complex for ,
and announced its plans to renovated these structures, having gotten approval from the NYCLPC.
The following year, 58–70 Kent Street was made into the
Kickstarter headquarters
The headquarters of Kickstarter, an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation and crowdfunding platform for creative projects, are in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint, a neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. The three-stor ...
.
In 2018, the
New York University School of Medicine
NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...
signed a lease to occupy part of 72–74 Kent Street.
Architecture
![Red Star Bar Greenpoint Av West St jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Red_Star_Bar_Greenpoint_Av_West_St_jeh.jpg)
The Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory's constituent structures were designed in a German
Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...
style or
Rundbogenstil
(round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particular ...
.
Generally, these structures were designed based on their practical use,
similar to other buildings of the era.
These features included relatively narrow footprints to provide sufficient natural light to the interior, as well as flat roofs with brick
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
s to reduce dust accumulation that could cause fires.
However, the buildings also included numerous aesthetic elements.
For instance, sections of the parapet were built with
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
s to resemble
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s, and many of these pediments contained the company's logo, a star-and-diamond motif.
As with other factory structures built in that era,
regularly spaced window openings let in natural light but also allowed an "organization" and "dignity",
while decorative brick facades allowed for both a fire-resistant material and a "relatively economical means of relieving plain brickwork".
Greenpoint Avenue buildings
The buildings on Greenpoint Avenue that are within the district are on the north side of the avenue. From west to east, they are numbered 37 through 61 Greenpoint Avenue.
37 Greenpoint Avenue is located at the corner with West Street, on the western side of the block. It is a four-story brick building erected around 1881 by the Valentine family. The building was originally intended as a store with
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
apartments above, but when completed, was used for office or industrial purposes.
This served as the mailing address and offices for the factory.
Faber's modifications to the building included the installation of ornaments, including the company's star-and-diamond logos at the top of the building. There are three window
bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
on Greenpoint Avenue and eight along West Street. The West Street facade contains a historic
fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency th ...
. The building features projecting
window sill
A windowsill (also written window sill or window-sill, and less frequently in British English, cill) is the horizontal structure or surface at the bottom of a window. Window sills serve to structurally support and hold the window in place.
The ...
s and
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
s, which are both made of brownstone.
39–45 Greenpoint Avenue was also developed by the Valentines and built by John M. Baker in the German Renaissance Revival style around 1901. The five-story building was made of bond brick and measures eleven window bays wide along Greenpoint Avenue. A fire escape is affixed to the western portion of the Greenpoint Avenue (southern) facade.
47–61 Greenpoint Avenue was designed by Frederick H. Klie around 1923–1924 and was purpose-built as a factory for the Faber complex. The six-story building, in the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style, contains ten window bays facing Greenpoint Avenue, as well as vertical concrete
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
flanking each bay. On the facade, there are brick panels between the windows on each floor. There is
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
ornamentation and pencil-shaped abstract ornaments on the facade.
Kent Street buildings
![EF Star bldg GP jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/EF_Star_bldg_GP_jeh.jpg)
There are four buildings on both sides of Kent Street: three along 58–76 Kent Street on the south side, and a building at 59–63 Kent Street on the north side.
58–70 Kent Street, located on the south side of Kent Street east of the intersection with West Street, incorporates the facades of three former factory buildings on the site. The westernmost of these (on the right when facing the entrance) is 58 Kent Street, an Italianate building designed by Philemon Tillion in 1860 and erected by Francis Gove. In the center is 60–64 Kent Street, a Renaissance Revival building designed by Theobald Engelhardt and built in 1895 by Faber; this facade contains brick
dentil
A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Reviv ...
courses and
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s,
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
lintels, radiating brick arches, and
bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:
* basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand
* dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge)
* felds ...
water tables. The easternmost is 66–70 Kent Street, erected in the Romanesque Revival style, with jutting brick
header arches above the windows, cast iron lintels above the doors, and iron
shutter hinges. The
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
s above the latter two sections show the company motif.
In the 2010s, the building was renovated into the Kickstarter headquarters, but the architecture remained mostly intact.
72–74 Kent Street, a three-story brick factory in the Renaissance Revival style, was erected around 1904–1908.
Measuring nine bays wide, it contains a central
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
upon which the company's motif was placed. It contains projecting greystone window sills, lintels above the windows, and a brick corbel.
Two fire escapes are located on the building's facade, one shared with its eastern neighbor, 76 Kent Street.
this space is partially occupied by the New York University School of Medicine as a physical therapy and imaging center.
76 Kent Street, a three-story Renaissance Revival building, was built at an unknown date between 1886 and 1904. It contains brick lintels, cornice and parapet, as well a first-floor steel lintel. Sometime in the 1980s it was partially made into a residential building.
59–63 Kent Street, a five-story building built around 1910–1911, is located on the north side of Kent Street. It was built to a design by F. Nelson, an obscure architect whose listed address was the same as Faber's mailing address.
59–63 Kent is nine bays wide and contains Renaissance Revival ornamentation, including brick corbels, a central pediment, and the company's motif at the top. There is one fire escape on the facade. It was formerly connected to a building across Kent Street, which is now occupied by 58–70 Kent.
West Street buildings
The complex has two buildings with addresses on the east side of West Street.
98 West Street is located in the middle of the block between Kent Street to the north and Greenpoint Avenue to the south. The four-story building contains a timber structure and a brick facade. The first two stories date from 1876, while the third story was added around 1881; both portions were in the Italianate style. The Renaissance Revival fourth story was added around 1901 by Philemon Tillion, who probably also added the fourth story of 100-106 West Street simultaneously. The first floor received renovations and became a loading dock before 1905. The second and third floors have cast-iron sills and window hoods, while the fourth floor has greystone sills and a brick lintel.
100–106 West Street, at the southeast corner with Kent Street, was the first structure in the complex to be acquired: it was built in 1860 by Francis Gove and acquired by 1872 for Faber's factory.
The four-story building has a facade of bond brick, with sills and lintels made of cast iron in the Italianate style, as well as pediments with circular motifs.
A Renaissance Revival parapet and gable may have been installed in the 1880s, while the fourth story was built around 1901.
The building contains nine window bays on Kent Street and six on West Street.
References
Citations
Sources
* {{cite web, url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2264.pdf, title=Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District, last=Presa, first=Donald G., date=October 30, 2007, publisher=
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
, ref={{harvid, Landmarks Preservation Commission, 2007
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Historic districts in Brooklyn
Italianate architecture in New York City
New York City designated historic districts
New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn
New York University
Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City
Romanesque Revival architecture in New York City