Reflective Sugar Crystal-Inspired Facade at Landmarked Dumbo Factory Is Finished

The distinctive facade at 10 Jay Street in Dumbo is finally complete.

A recent visit revealed the sugar crystal-inspired metal and glass surface has been fully constructed — when we visited in August 2017, it was just taking form, covering about two-thirds of the exposed front of the building.

In all likelihood, there’s still months of work yet to be done on the interior. The building has not yet received its certificate of occupancy, and the green construction fence is still up along the ground floor.

It joins a waterfront in Dumbo whose historic industrial buildings and open spaces are increasingly being redeveloped for a variety of uses, as at Empire Stores, Brooklyn Bridge Park and, just next door, condos at 1 John Street.

Designed by sugar refinery experts George M. Newhall Engineering Company as the Arbuckle Brothers Sugar Refinery, the original factory — a steel structure with brick curtain walls — was built in 1898 in the American Round Arch style.

Sometime in the postwar period, the entire factory was coated in concrete stucco and the river-facing facade of the building removed.

In 2015, Landmarks approved the contrasting curtain wall design for the missing facade and the restoration of the rest of the exterior of the building, which is part of the Dumbo Historic District, designated in 2007.

Developers Glacier Global Partners and Triangle Assets initially planned to convert the factory into 46 luxury condos, but later opted for office space.

One of the most prominent architecture firms in Brooklyn right now, ODA is known for its boxy assemblages, including the development on the former site of the Rheingold Brewery at 10 Montieth Street in Bushwick with ombré-effect windows and the modern apartment building that will replace Boerum Hill’s historic Church of the Redeemer.

[Photos by Susan De Vries]

Related Stories

• ODA’s Sugar Crystal-Inspired Facade for Landmarked Factory Reflects Waterfront in Dumbo
• Dumbo’s Historic Arbuckle Sugar Refinery
• The Arbuckle Coffee Company’s Sugar and Coffee War

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