Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory buildings

The two large buildings along the north side of Greenpoint Avenue (#39-45 and #47-61) east of West St. once contained part of the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory. The company was founded in Germany and opened operations in Manhattan in 1849. After a fire, the factory moved to the Greenpoint neighborhood in 1872. The red brick. 5-story building on the west is older. The eastern building, 6 stories of red brick with bands of concrete, was added as an expansion of the factory in 1923 to 1924. Look closely and you'll see stars, a symbol of the company. The factory complex in Greenpoint, the oldest pencil factory in America and the only one of its kind in Brooklyn, closed in 1956 and moved operations to Pennsylvania. The renovated buildings now hold condominium residences and leased work spaces. The pair of buildings - along with seven others in the complex - became a New York City landmarked historic district in 2007.

Eberhard Faber I came from a long line of pencil-makers in Germany. His great-great grandfather, Caspar Faber, sold lead pencils in 1761 in Stein, a village on the outskirts of Nuremberg, Bavaria. Eberhard Faber I moved operations to Manhattan in 1849, recognizing the abundance of raw materials (graphite and cedar) in America. The company bought huge tracts of cedar trees in Florida; the wood was harvested and sent to Manhattan by ship. After his factory was destroyed by fire in May 1872, Faber I moved to the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. Only days after the fire, Eberhard Faber wrote a letter to the editor of a New York City newspaper, correcting the impression that his 800 factory workers would be unemployed. Faber stated that some were still being paid and that even more workers would be hired for the new factory which was already being constructed. It only took three months in between the fire and the start of pencil-making in Greenpoint.

After starting in a new, wood frame, two-story building, the Greenpoint factory grew to cover most of two city blocks by the 1920s. The factory complex was bounded roughly by Greenpoint Ave. on the south, West St. on the west, Java St. on the north, and Franklin St. on the east. A brick building housing the factory stood on the corner of West and Kent streets by 1877. Eberhard Faber II and his brother, Lothar W. took over the company after their father died in 1879.

A company warehouse in Manhattan closed in 1902 and the company's warehouse and shipping functions moved to the Greenpoint complex. By 1919, the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory in Greenpoint was producing lead pencils, penholders, rubber erasers, rubber bands, and rubber novelties. A 1919 newspaper ad welcomed attendees to the company's booth at the Brooklyn Engineers Club meeting at a local armory to see how the company made Van Dyke drawing pencils, watch a professional engineer demonstrate their use, and receive a free sample pencil.

The factory was operating at full capacity in June 1941, with around 900 employees in their over a half million square feet of space. The company was still being run by Fabers in 1941, with Lothar's son, E.L. Faber, as company president. The factory moved operations to Pennsylvania in 1956.

The western of the two buildings on the north side of Greenpoint Ave. (#39-45) is the earlier of the pair. In 1877, before #39-45 was built, wooden structures of a Faience Pottery Works, a soda water factory, and a roofing materials business stood in this location. The five-story, red brick structure was constructed around 1901 and is ornamented with iron five-point stars from the company's emblem.

The eastern building on the north side of Greenpoint Ave. (#47-61) was built as additional space for the pencil factory in the early 1920s. In 1877, a string of wooden or brick buildings held stores and a plumber and tinsmith shop in this spot. The building was the last to be added to the factory complex and was the largest structure. The 47-61 Greenpoint Ave. building is six stories tall and concrete, faced in red brick wtih concrete piers. The Art Deco style building has been converted into work spaces and luxury condominiums. Look for the reliefs of yellow pencils, sharpened to a point, and company's logo of a str within a diamond.

Anonymous. "Greenpoint is Second Industrial Center in the U.S." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) December 28th 1919. 7-7.

Eberhard Faber Pencil Company. "America's Oldest and Brooklyn's Only Pencil Factory. Advertisement." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) April 27th 1919. 80-80.

Faber, Eberhard. "Eberhard Pencil Factory. Letter to the editor." New York Herald (New York) May 31st 1872. 3-3.

Miller, William Stanley. "Greenpoint Goods Reach Every Land." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) December 28th 1919. 7-7.

Presa, Donald G. NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District, Designation Report. NYC landmarks. New York, NY. NYC Government, 2007.

Salerno, Alfred. "Brooklyn Pencil Firm Producing at Capacity." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) June 16th 1941. Business sec, 8-8.