Building of the Day: 537 Sackett Street

Frontpiece from Majestic Lighting Catalog, 1950

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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Former Majestic Quality Products Company Factory and Warehouse
Address: 537 Sackett Street
Cross Streets: Corner of Nevins Street
Neighborhood: Gowanus
Year Built: around 1950
Architectural Style: Industrial Moderne
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No, but part of proposed National Register of Historic Places Gowanus Industrial District.

The story: We get so many products from all over the world now, especially from China, so it’s hard to imagine where the things we put in our homes are made. If we were living in the 1950s, and we wanted lighting fixtures for our homes, we might have purchased them from a company like Majestic Quality Products, which had its factory right here in Brooklyn, at 537 Sackett Street, in Gowanus.

Except for the small office area second floor above the main entrance, the building is a sprawling factory a block longs and a quarter of a block deep. It was built sometime just before 1950, and was completed in time to have a photograph of it enclosed in the Majestic Company’s 1950 lighting catalog. The Majestic Quality Products Company was founded in the early 1920s, and made quality lighting fixtures, mostly in sheet metal brass and glass. They made chandeliers, sconces, hanging fixtures and ceiling lights in the popular styles of the day. They also sold parts and accessories, and were wholesalers, not retail sellers.

This factory was designed in the new Moderne style of architecture, and originally would have had banks of metal casement windows wrapping around the building. Today most of the windows are bricked in, except for the bank running down the left side from the main entrance. It’s an austere building, but well suited to the task of running assembly lines where heavy machines can stamp out sheet metal components, spin brass, perhaps mold glass, and workers can assemble the components into finished fixtures. Shipping and warehouse facilities would also incorporated into the space.

A catalog for the company published in 1950 says this about Majestic: “Majestic serves the buyer well, with Lighting fixtures that excel…The quality of Majestic Lighting Equipment begins in the creative mind of our staff of designers, each an artist in his field. The finest of raw materials and the most modern machinery are fused together by the most skillful workmen to make an excellent product.” The resulting catalog was full of all kinds of styles and makes of lighting. Most were in the popular Colonial Revival styles, as well as subdued Deco and novelty styles, and basic stamped hall and bathroom fixtures. I’ve seen many of these lights, or similar ones, in a lot of houses over the years.

I don’t know when Majestic left the factory. As a company, they kept a low profile in the papers, which I guess is good. They had no fires, no robberies or severe industrial accidents. Today the building is home to the Adams Book Company, and has been since at least 1985. Adams is an independent bookseller to schools, with textbooks and other books for every class from Kindergarten through the senior year of high school. The Adams sign on the front of the building almost covers the original “Majestic” name, but you can still see some of it peeking through. The building also houses several other business tenants.

(Photograph:Kate Leonova for Property Shark)

GMAP

Frontpiece from Majestic Lighting Catalog, 1950

Frontpiece from Majestic Lighting Catalog, 1950

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

Majestic Lighting Catalog, 1950

Majestic Lighting Catalog, 1950

"Color" Series, 1950 Majestic Lighting Co. Catalog

“Color” Series, 1950 Majestic Lighting Co. Catalog

"Majestic" Series. Majestic Lighting Co. 1950 Catalog

“Majestic” Series. Majestic Lighting Co. 1950 Catalog

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