So I read yesterday that the Pencil Factory is on the block to be landmark. Nah, not the bar the actual old Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory on Greenpoint Avenue.

“The yellow pencils, roughly 10 feet tall and still sharp after 83 years, adorn the facade of 61 Greenpoint Avenue, once part of the Eberhard Faber factory in Greenpoint, where No. 2 Mongol pencils were made until 1956. Together with structures on West and Kent Streets, the building is part of the proposed two-block Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District.”

Not to mention the old Domino Sugar plant in Williamsburg is also under consideration.

“The commission also heard overwhelmingly favorable testimony on a proposal to designate the former Domino sugar processing plant in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as a landmark.”

And McCarren Park Pool has just been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as well.

As was generally expected, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated McCarren Pool (and surrounding buildings) a New York City landmark.


I think it’s great that they’re considering these types of buildings to be saved from demolition – or God forbid more Belvederes. Not that I hate the Belvederes all that much, they’re pretty nice, actually. Compared with some of the row housing that Greenpoint is made up of, they might even be better. The true monstrosity is that Eckford & Engert. They remind me of those old commercials for termites where the people live in all concrete housing – even the couch.

I live in a landmark myself. A landmark building that has waterbugs, bed bugs and live mice that are apparently stuck in glue traps and tossed from windows so that you are privy to a dying, writhing little critter on your fire escape. Or so the handwritten note on the mailboxes suggests.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *