Save Brooklyn's Industrial Heritage
The Municipal Art Society of New York

Austin, Nichols & Company Warehouse


Located in Williamsburg, the Austin, Nichols & Company Warehouse is one of the earliest reinforced concrete warehouses in the United States designed by a nationally prominent architect. The building was constructed in 1913-15 when Austin, Nichols & Company, one of the leading grocery wholesalers in the country, moved from Lower Manhattan to Williamsburg, in part to take advantage of water transportation to ship its goods. The designer, renowned architect Cass Gilbert, employed Egyptian Revival motifs for the structure, with a coved cornice, battered walls and narrow window openings. The building remained the company’s headquarters until the 1950s. Eventually the building was converted to residences, art studios and office space. The building was home to many Williamsburg artists, until they were all evicted in 2005 so the owner could convert the building to luxury residential, now allowed under the recent rezoning. For more information, click here (link PDF)

Photo Credits:
Left: Brooklyn Public Library
Right: Martina Salisbury

National Register Status: Listed on the National Register.

Landmark Status: The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously on September 20, 2005, to designate the warehouse as a New York City landmark. In December 2005, the New York City Council invoked a rarely used power to reverse the landmark designation of the warehouse. One council member, in explaining his vote, dismissed the warehouse as a “piece of trash.” After the Council overturned the designation, Roberta Brandes Gratz, a member of the landmarks commission said “I consider this very dangerous,” to the New York Times, “we did the right thing, but the pressures are so enormous that you get a big developer and everybody buckles.”

Threat: Now unprotected, the owner released plans to remove all the distinctive architectural elements and build a large and unsympathetic addition. There is a glimmer of hope, as it is legally possible for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to re-designate the building. And one blog released images that showed a more sympathetic treatment.

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