5 Pointz

22-44 Jackson Avenue | Long Island City | built 2018

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1892

    A water-meter factory opens on the site later known as 5 Pointz

    An earlier building on this site opened in 1892 as a factory for the Thomson Meter Company, which took the name Neptune Meter the following year and made water meters there. Developer Jerry Wolkoff bought the property in 1971 and, with no immediate plans to redevelop, leased it to a firm producing 8-track tapes, CD covers and phonograph accessories into the early 1990s.

    “The building was originally constructed in 1892 for Neptune Meter as a factory for the construction of water meters.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1993

    Pat DiLillo opens the Phun Phactory, a legal graffiti wall with strict house rules

    With Wolkoff's permission, Pat DiLillo set up the Phun Phactory in the old factory on this site in 1993 under a program called Graffiti Terminators. Avoiding the word graffiti, he banned gang symbols and promised to remove the work of any artist whose tags turned up in nearby neighborhoods. Some young artists later credited him with pushing them to earn GEDs and stay out of trouble.

    “The site was first established as the Phun Phactory in 1993 by Pat DiLillo under a program called Graffiti Terminators.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2002

    Graffiti artist Meres One renames the factory 5 Pointz for the five boroughs

    Jonathan Cohen, who painted as Meres One, took over curating the walls of the earlier building here in 2002 and renamed it 5 Pointz, for the five boroughs joining as one. He vetted newcomers by asking for samples and mural layouts. Writers including Stay High 149, Tracy 168, Cope2 and TATS CRU painted here, while about 200 artists rented cheap studios inside.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2009

    April 10

    A crumbling fire escape injures an artist and the city shuts the complex's largest building

    On April 10, 2009, part of a concrete fire escape on the old factory here gave way and hurt an artist. The inspections that followed found numerous problems, including studio partitions put up without permits, and that April the Department of Buildings ordered the complex's largest building closed.

    “The inspections followed an incident on April 10, 2009, in which an artist was injured when part of a concrete fire escape collapsed.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2013

    October 31

    Banksy ends his New York residency with a plea to save 5 Pointz

    With the factory on this site slated for condos, curator Jonathan Cohen asked Banksy in The Guardian that October to speak up for it. The artist, then posting a new piece somewhere in the city each day, said nothing until the residency's last day, October 31, 2013, when his website signed off with a thank-you and the words Save 5pointz.

    “Thanks for your patience. It's been fun. Save 5pointz. Bye.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 2013

    November 19

    Jerry Wolkoff has the 5 Pointz murals painted over in a single night

    After the City Planning Commission and City Council approved a $400 million residential plan and the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected a landmark nomination, a federal court denied an injunction on November 12, 2013. A week later workmen hired by Wolkoff whitewashed the exterior murals overnight. An estimated 11,000 murals had been painted inside and out during the building's last decade. Demolition of the old factory followed in 2014.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2018

    February

    A federal judge orders Wolkoff to pay 21 artists $6.7 million for the destroyed murals

    Artists whose work covered the earlier building here sued under the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act, and a 2017 jury trial tested whether graffiti could be federally protected art. In February 2018 Judge Frederic Block awarded the maximum $150,000 for each of 45 works. An appeals court upheld the ruling in February 2020, and the Supreme Court declined the case that October, after Wolkoff's death in July.

    “In February 2018, Block awarded $6.7 million to 21 of the artists whose works had been destroyed.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2018

    Two apartment towers of 41 and 48 stories top out where 5 Pointz stood

    Foundations for the replacement towers were finished in late 2015 and both reached full height in 2018. The revised plan called for 1,115 apartments, 223 of them affordable, along with 20 art studios and 40,000 square feet of commercial space. Wolkoff kept the 5 Pointz name for the project, angering artists, though the name was refused as a trademark in March 2014.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

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