North Side Bank of Brooklyn, ca. 1978. The 1889 Romanesque Revival building by Theobald Engelhardt was the original location on the North Side Bank of Brooklyn. The bank was acquired by the Manufacturer’s Trust Bank in 1922. The Grand Street branch shuttered during the 20th century, as Manufacturer’s Trust went through a series of mergers, eventually becoming part of Chase Bank. In recent years, the building has been a retail location and event space; its weathered exterior continues to recall the rapidly-developing neighborhood’s industrial roots.

On April 1, 1949, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was full of news of workers on strike. The headline for the day announced that a taxi strike was on and "90% tied up," meaning that all but 701 of the city's 11,510 taxicabs had refused to start their engines. Meanwhile, CIO radio operators at Pan-American Airways had launched a strike over deadlocked contract negotiations, and in a slim article further down the page, readers learned that 7,000 brewery workers from Brooklyn's 14 major breweries--still at the top of its game in '49--had also organized and begun picketing. On the brewery workers' list of demands were an increase in pay, a shorter workweek, a pension plan, and a new, mandatory two-person model for deliveries

View west on Broadway toward the former Sparrow Shoe Factory (No. 195), ca. 1975. The cast iron-fronted factory was built in 1882 for the show manufacturing business of James R. Sparrow and his son James R. Sparrow, Jr. At right is the awning for the Peter Luger Steak House, a restaurant founded in 1887 as Carl Luger’s Café, Billiards and Bowling Alley. At left is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.

The Williamsburg Bridge ca. 1905 The Williamsburg Bridge opened to the public on December 19, 1903, spanning the East River and connecting Manhattan’s Lower East Side with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. It was designed by American Civil Engineer Leffert L. Buck and architect Henry Hornbostel who would later also collaborate on the design of the nearby Queensboro Bridge. This time period coincided with a massive population growth in New York City, prompting an ease of movement between boroughs and necessitating the need for more connections. The Williamsburg Bridge was the second permanent structure to connect Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn following the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. Construction began in 1896 and cost the city $24.2 million in total. At the time of it’s opening, the Williamsburg Bridge was officially the longest running suspension bridge in the world, spanning a total of 7,308 feet. The structure would hold this title until 1924, when the Bear Mountain Bridge opened in upstate New York. The Williamsburg Bridge was one of the last bridges built in New York City designed for the purpose of trolley use. In the decades after it opened, railways and trolley lines accounted for most of the traffic on the bridge. To accommodate the growing frequency of automobile drivers, the trolley tracks were closed and converted into roadways in 1932.

Kings County Savings Banks ca. 1975 Post-Civil War elegance in this country always aped the grandeur of Second Empire Paris. This bank, with its high mansard roofs, quoins in the walls, and rusticated first floor, was no exception.

Little boys standing on the south side of Broadway between Berry Street and Bedford Avenue, ca. 1975. The elevated subway trestle east of the Williamsburg Bridge is visible between buildings at right.

Kings County Savings Bank ARCHITECT: King & Wilcox DATE: 1868 STYLE: Second Empire A four-story building with Mansard roof of the French Second Empire period, the Kings County Savings Bank has excellent proportions and many fine architectural details. The main entrance doorway is dominated by a handsome porch with elaborate carving in the pediment. A cast iron balustrade flanks the building on the property line enclosing the bank.

Kings County Savings Bank. ca. 1975. Built between 1860 and 1867, the bank building (at left) was designed by William H. Wilcox in partnership with prominent Brooklyn architect Gamaliel King. The four-story, Second Empire building (the mansard roof hides the 4th floor attic) was the first permanent home of the Kings County Savings Bank, chartered in 1860. The building was occupied by a number of different banks for more than 120 years, finally closing as a banking institution in the early 1990s. Since 1996 the building has been occupied by the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, a non-profit organization that presents art and history exhibitions, performances, cultural events, lectures, and educational programs.

411-415 Bedford Avenue, ca. 1975. Cast iron architecture is most well known in New York City in the SoHo and a few excellent examples in Fulton Ferry and Downtown Brooklyn. Williamsburg also had a smattering of cast iron building, including most notably the Smith, Gray & Co. building on Broadway and Bedford Avenue. This pair of cast iron facades, seen here in a 1970s era photograph, are unfortunately, no longer extant. The buildings still stand but the facades are now brick, and the fenestration (the arrangement of windows) has been drastically altered.

St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church, pre-1909. The community of St. Mark's was founded in 1838 and moved into their Gothic style stone church at the corner of Bedford Avenue and South 5th Street in 1841. After six successful decades in that location the church was informed that the land on which the church sat was being taken by imminent domain for an entrance to the new Williamsburg Bridge. The church was razed after the turn of the century and the congregation moved to a location in Crown Heights on Union Street and Brooklyn Avenue.

Williamsburg was incorporated into Bushwick as the "Village of Williamsburgh" within the Town of Bushwick in 1827. After two years, it had a population of over 1,000, a fire department, and a post office. Its prime location on the East River encouraged industrialists to build shipyards around Williamsburg. As such, it became a hub of industry. In 1840, Williamsburg separated from the Town of Bushwick and became the Town of Williamsburg. Edmund Smith Driggs, a Williamsburg resident, was elected the first president of the Village in 1850. Driggs Avenue is named after him. It became the City of Williamsburg (then discarding the 'h' in 1855 and was organized into three wards. Finally, in 1898 Brooklyn became one of the high boroughs within NYC and so Williamsburg became part of the City of Greater New York. The Williamsburg Bridge was opened shortly after.

Sugar refining was one of New York City's leading industries from colonial times, when thick-walled masonry "sugar houses" of five to seven stories were some of the tallest structures in Manhattan. The first of these vertical factories was erected on Wall Street in 1729, and at least four similar sugar houses operated in lower Manhattan through the mid-1830s, when new machinery and methods transformed the production process. In 1884, Havemeyer & Elder constructed the world's largest sugar refinery on the Brooklyn waterfront. The burgeoning industry consolidated in 1897 under a cartel led by the Havemeyer family's Sugar Refineries Company (later renamed the American Sugar Refining Company), at its peak it controlled 98% of the country's sugar production. The Filter, Pan & Finishing House of Havemeyer & Elder was a three-building complex for filtering and reducing, drying, refining, grading, and packaging sugar-- all carried out in vertical production process. The deep waters of Wallabout Bay and Bushwick Creek allowed direct docking for ships unloading raw sugar and taking on packaged goods as cargo. The refinery continued to evolve with additions to the complex in the 1920s and the name was changed to Domino Sugar Corporation in 1991. With a workforce of 4,500, it had a minimum capacity of 1,200 pounds of sugar a day. Refining ceased in 2009, leaving only a packaging operation until the factory closed in 2004. In 2007, the Landmark Preservation Commission designated the original three-building complex as a New York City landmark, noting that, at 155 feet tall, it was the tallest building on the Brooklyn waterfront, approaching the height of early skyscrapers in lower Manhattan's financial district." Plans are underway by developer CPC Resources for a large-scale residential and commercial complex that will restore the Filter, Pan & Finishing House as a community center by Beyer Blinder & Belle Architects and replace the remainder of the site with new high-rise apartment buildings designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects.

Sparrow Show Factory 183-195 Broadway is considered one of the finest surviving cast-iron buildings in Brooklyn. Its iron was cast by the Atlantic Iron Works of Manhattan, which cast pieces for many buildings in Tribeca and Soho. The cast-iron façade remains intact and features inventive ornamentation in the form of calla lilies, stylized drapery, and wreaths on the building’s pilasters. A similar spiral floral concept can be seen on other buildings, but the use of the calla lily is considered unique. The building was likely built as a shoe dealer’s factory and warehouse. In 1937, the building became home to the Forman Family, manufacturers of chromium tableware and metal gift items. Their signage remains between the second and third floors, though the building now houses loft-style apartments. While cast-iron buildings could once be found throughout Brooklyn, the four surviving cast-iron buildings clustered along this section of Broadway are among the borough’s only survivors, and the only substantial group outside of Manhattan.

Smith Building, ca. 1977. Smith-Gray, was a popular manufacturer and retailer of boys and men’s clothing in New York City. In the mid 1870s they moved into a new building on the corner of South 8th Street and Bedford Avenue, after outgrowing a number of other spaces in the Williamsburg area. That four-story, iron-fronted structure, called the Lyceum Building, was destroyed in a fire in 1888. The building that replaced the destroyed one is seen here at right. Called the Smith Building, it was designed by Peter J. Lauritzen, who would go on to construct other stores for the Smith-Gray Company. The building was demolished in the late 20th century and today the lot (and those around it) are occupied by a large apartment house.

Smith, Gray & Company Building ARCHITECT: attributed to William H. Gaynor DATE: 1870 STYLE: Cast-iron The Smith, Gray & Co. Building is an early, significantly intact, 5-story and 25-foot-wide cast-iron-fronted store-and-loft building in Brooklyn. The firm was founded by tailor Edward Smith, who began his business in 1833. This structure, constructed in 1870, is attributed to William H. Gaylor, a prominent Brooklyn architect who designed three other cast-iron-fronted structures for Smith between 1873 and 1884. This iron front was fabricated by George R. Jackson & Sons, and the builders were probably Thomas and William Lamb who, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, built all of Smith, Gray’s stores. Typical of cast iron designs in the Second Empire style, the building’s main facade features tiered upper stories with segmental-arched fenestration framed by Corinthian columns and pilasters.

The former Novelty Theatre on Driggs Avenue, 1917. The theater was demolished in 1919, with an apartment building named Novelty Court built in its place. It was there that NYPD whistleblower Frank Serpico was shot in suspicious circumstances during a 1971 drug bust. Serpico, portrayed by Al Pacino in the film of the same name, was a vocal critic of the widespread corruption in the department.

In the wake of excessive new construction and urban renewal initiatives across the country there are growing trends of gentrification and community displacement. Using NYC as a case study, how could we consider adaptive reuse of older structures and thoughtful architectural additions to building sites as a way to create not only sustainable architectural precedents, but community-oriented structures? As examples of older structures that have been renovated and established new uses for their building types, the Domino Sugar Factory, Cooper Square CLT Housing Units, and the 122 Community Center serve as examples of adaptive reuse, but comparatively all for different reasons.

99 Broadway entrance detail, ca. 1975.

“American Sugar Refining Company, East River, Kent Avenue, Between South First and South Second Streets. The Largest in the World.” Ca. 1915. Williamsburg’s East River waterfront was once home to America’s largest concentration of sugar refining facilities — in 1870, the American Sugar refinery processed more than half of the sugar consumed nationally. The original factory, built in 1856, was damaged in an 1882 fire. The current 10-story brick structure was built as a fire-proof replacement. The factory continued to operate until 2004. The site is currently being redeveloped as a residential complex.

109 South 6th Street, ca. 1975. This Romanesque Revival/Queen Anne building was constructed in 1891 and designed by William H. Gaylor. originally built as the Bedford Avenue Theatre, it opened in October of 1891 with a production of a musical called Jolly Surprise. The theatre became the Empire Theatre in 1893 and by 1903 its life as a theatre was over. The construction of entrance roadways for the new Williamsburg Bridge caused the entire back half of building, including the stage, to be demolished. In the 1930s the building became a warehouse for the Fruitcrest Corporation (the painted sign is seen on the side facade in this photograph). Fruitcrest was a manufacturer of jams, jellies, and fruit juices. The company later developed the popular Juicy Juice and moved out of this building, first to Long Island, then to California. After Fruitcrest vacated the building it suffered from deterioration. In 2007 it was purchased by a fitness company that completely restored the exterior. Today, the red brick and terra cotta trim and medallions are in excellent condition.

Williamsburg Bridge from South 6th and Berry Streets, April 28, 1937. Whereas the Brooklyn Bridge served to unite two independent cities, the Williamsburg Bridge (also spelled "Williamsburgh"), completed after the consolidation of Greater New York, functioned as a highway within the single, larger city. The Williamsburg, the first all-steel suspension bridge, had been proposed as early as 1882, even before the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, but its realization was long opposed by powerful ferry interests. Residents of Brooklyn's Williamsburg section felt that the area was suffering economically and in status after the Brooklyn Bridge opened and focused attention on Manhattan and away from their neighborhood. In addition, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge had escalated the population and property values in the city of Brooklyn; simultaneously the growth rate of the village of Williamsburg (also known as the Eastern District) declined. After the Williamsburg Bridge opened, the few orthodox Jews who had earlier settled in Williamsburg, one of the many small towns that comprised Brooklyn, were soon joined by many other Jewish immigrants who fled the squalor of Manhattan's overcrowded Lower East Side tenements. Although not considered as aesthetically satisfying as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Williamsburg enjoyed its own renown. It was the first suspension bridge to feature towers made entirely of steel, and the 110-foot depths to which its caissons were sunk represented a new engineering accomplishment. When finally completed, the Williamsburg was the longest suspension bridge in the world, 4.5 feet longer than the Brooklyn Bridge. For five years after the Williamsburg opened, the City was unable to coordinate mass transportation activities for it; only walkers, cyclists, and privately-owned carriages used the span. In 1908, the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company (later the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co., now the BMT) became the first mass transportation line to cross the bridge.

Listen to the Gotham Center and Brendan Cooper's podcast on the history on the Domino Sugar Refinery, a monument of New York Industry, while examining these related archival images!

View of the Williamsburg Bridge from South 6th and Berry Streets. Berenice Abbott, April 28, 1937.

112 South 3rd Street, adjoining the southeast corner of Berry Street, showing the old Brooklyn Hospital and Dispensary. It first appears on an 1886 atlas of the City of Brooklyn. Sperr refers to it as "The Relief," probably referring to it being used, at this time, as a station of the Home Relief Bureau. May 1, 1936.

Williamsburgh Savings Banks ca. 1975 After the Greek Revival, very few purely classical buildings were erected until the World's Columbian Exposition rerouted interest in the beauties of the ancient world. This Classic building, erected in 1875, is one of the few, and must have seemed imposing to a city of brownstone, brick, and Ruskinian polychromy.

142 South 8th Street ARCHITECT: William H. Gaylor DATE: 1895 STYLE: Romanesque Revival Designed by William H. Gaylor, the Long Island Business College was built by Henry C. Wright, who founded Wright’s Business College in Williamsburg in 1873. In 1920, the college itself was sold and moved to a different Brooklyn location, and in 1922, the building reopened as Public School 166. Gaylor based the school’s design on Brooklyn’s recent public schools. The building, which combines the Romanesque Revival and Second Empire styles, and incorporates elements of other contemporary styles, features rough-faced brownstone trim, a five-part facade with a central tower and end pavilions, slate-covered mansards, and a convex roof with a square cap.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank ARCHITECT: George B. Post DATE: 1875 STYLE: Italian Renaissance An imposing building of monumental proportions, this bank with its dome and handsome lantern impresses one with its massive strength and quiet dignity. Classic Revival in style, this four story building of limestone, sandstone and marble contains a wealth of architectural detail and ornament. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank is an unusual domed structure, with many diverse architectural elements in its composition. Interior: Inspired by Renaissance models, the centrally-planned, domed banking room is a precursor to the temple banking halls which came into vogue in the period following the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A rare intact example of a mid-nineteenth century ornamentation scheme, the banking hall features a mixture of Renaissance and Neo-Grec motifs and contains an abundance of rich materials and elaborate polychromy. Dominating the space is the soaring cast-iron dome which rises 110 feet above the banking floor and is capped by a beautifully painted vault with an unusual abstract design.

33-35 Grand Street, ca. 1978. Built in 1889 by Theobald Engelhardt, a Brooklyn architect who mostly worked in Williamsburg and Bushwick, this Romanesque Revival style building was the first location for the newly chartered North Side Savings Bank. Smaller in size than many of Brooklyn's other banks from this time period, the bank fit in with the industrial and commercial feel of the neighborhood. The bank was particularly successful, garnering clients not only from the local industries but also using their location right near the ferry terminal to attract commuters. The bank became a part of the Manufacturer’s Trust Bank in 1922. Manufacturer's Trust, through various mergers and renaming, is today J.P. Morgan Chase. The little building became a new branch of the larger bank in 1992 but closed sometime in the mid century. The building has been a clothing store, a hip barber shop, and an event space in recent years. There is a large, renovated apartment on the second floor. Despite the drastic changes that Williamsburg has seen in the last two decades, this building, with its darkened rough cut stone facade and pressed metal pediment, has remained largely the same as when this photograph was taken, and likely for much of its history.

Take a walk from the Williamsburg Bridge to admire the neighborhood as it was and still is.