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These photos of the Domino Sugar Plant on the waterfront in Williamsburg were taken this weekend–over seven years after the plant stopped processing sugar. Inspiration for the next supernatural thriller, the 11-acre site is boarded up and surrounded by barbed wired fences.
The empty building’s history began when English immigrant William Havemeyer and his brother Frederick formed a sugar refinery W. & F.C. Havemeyeyer company in the first decade of the 19th Century. Formerly a supervisor in a cane sugar refinery, William came to New York in 1799. By 1816, the Havemeyer Company was producing close to 9 million pounds of sugar annually, and by the 1890s, 1,200 tons of sugar were being produced each day. Because of the great producing success, the managing family members during that time decided to rename the company the American Sugar Refining Company.
Business continued to boom, and the Company was providing almost 100% of refined sugar purchased by American consumers in the mid-1890s. At the turn of the 20th Century, in order to increase competition within marketplaces, Teddy Roosevelt took action against manufacturing monopolies like the American Sugar Refining company. The Havemeyer in charge at the time, Henry, thought it a smart idea to start labeling the sugar produced by his company in order to implant a name in consumer’s heads. Thus, the name “Domino” was trademarked and printed on all sugar products (because the sugar cubes were said to resemble dominoes).
To read the rest of the history of the company, click here and discover its struggles through subsequent years and how it would change hands and names.
The abandoned Williamsburg property was purchased in July 2004 for an undisclosed amount by two developers. In January of this year, a developer proposed a plan to turn the lot into a $1.5 billion residential complex of 2,200 apartments. The plan was approved by city council in July. The factory, which was designated a historic city landmark last year, sits as it has for years, unaware of its future with signs of its past slowly decaying.
Click here to see inside the refinery circa 2007.
Update! The New Domino: what will replace the factory.
Thanks for the history lesson–very interesting! And the pictures are amazing. . .
Really cool seeing where all the sugar I ate growing up came from! Very interesting –
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Hi and I like to address myself to the employees that worked in the brooklyn refinery accounting office. I worked in the accounts payable department at that time. I am talking about in the 70′s. I was a a young man when i starded working at Domino Sugar.
I graduated from Eastern District High School and this was my first job. This pictures bring so many memories of my young years at Domino Sugar. I had so many friends in the staff.
I worked with Domino Sugar for almost 15 years. If any of my old friends want to get in touch you could email me at william_om@yahoo.com
I worked in the brookyn accounting office in Kent ave.
My nick name in my department was Bill. Some of my friends there were, Stanely Janes, Mike o Mohonny, vito bucelado, Norma, teresa Morgan, Jose, Fat albert, Carmen,
[...] ones. We love imagining their history and then researching their reality. That day, I took these photos of the factory and discovered it’s past and possible [...]