Brewster Building
27-01 Queens Plaza North | Dutch Kills | built 1910
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1911
Brewster opens a car chassis plant at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge
Designed by Stephenson & Wheeler, the building opened in 1911 to assemble chassis for Brewster cars, which the company had been making since 1905 at 47th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. It was among the first large projects near the Queensboro Bridge, opened in 1909, which put Times Square minutes away by car. From 1915 the plant built the Brewster Knight.
“…designed by Stephenson & Wheeler, opened in 1911 to handle the assembly of the chassis for the Brewster cars…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
Rolls-Royce ships Phantom II chassis to the Long Island City plant
Rolls-Royce of America bought Brewster in 1925, and after its Springfield, Massachusetts, operation closed in 1931 the company sent Phantom II chassis straight to this plant until 1934. Afterward, under J. S. Inskip, Brewster cars were built here on Ford chassis from 1934 until the car business stopped in 1936.
“From 1931 to 1934, Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis were shipped directly to the Long Island City plant…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1950
The former warplane factory loses its clock tower as it falls into disrepair
During World War II the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation built F2A Buffalo fighters and F3A-1 Corsairs here, though the building's many floors made aircraft production inefficient and the planes were flown from Roosevelt Field in Mineola. After the war the building declined, and its clock tower was taken down in 1950. Garment makers then occupied it until 1996.
“The building fell into disrepair following the war and its clock tower was dismantled in 1950.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
JetBlue picks the Brewster Building for its headquarters
After a 1996 remodeling by Brause Realty turned the building into a MetLife operations center with 1,500 workers, JetBlue announced in 2010 that it would move about 1,000 employees here from offices in Kew Gardens and Darien, Connecticut. The airline had also weighed Orlando, Florida, and in 2012 said it planned a 40-foot lighted JetBlue sign atop the eighth floor.
“In 2010, JetBlue announced it would combine employees at its existing large Kew Gardens, Queens and small 70-person Darien, Connecticut campuses into the building…”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Brewster Building (Queens)Wikipedia
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