International Cork Company factory
99 Sutton Street | Greenpoint | built 1931
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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.
- 1908
After fire destroys its Williamsburg plant, the International Cork Company rebuilds at 99 Sutton Street
The International Cork Company, founded by James Alberti in 1907, lost its first factory, at 29-45 Rodney Street in Williamsburg, to a fire in January 1908. No worker was seriously hurt, and firefighters kept the flames from a chemical factory next door. Alberti quickly rebuilt in Greenpoint, opening a large four-story brick factory at 99 Sutton Street that later received at least one long addition.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1910
A young worker fractures his spine lifting cork bags at the International Cork factory
Gaetano Altaro, a young worker, suffered a broken spine in November 1910 when he lifted heavy bags of cork at the Sutton Street factory. Brownstoner notes that this was one of several serious industrial accidents there over the years.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1911
A 1911 Eagle ad promotes the cork factory's new sprinklers and fireproof construction
A 1911 Brooklyn Eagle advertisement for the factory at 99 Sutton Street promoted its new sprinkler system and fireproof construction, three years after the company's Williamsburg plant burned. A fire did hit the Sutton Street building in 1915, though a less serious one.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1923
The Alberti family sells the International Cork Company to Crown Cork and Seal
The Alberti family sold the International Cork Company to the Crown Cork and Seal Company in 1923. James Alberti had died years earlier and his children had left the business. His son Emilio had served as president, James Jr. as vice president and general manager, and John as secretary and treasurer of what had grown into a maker of cork-lined bottle caps shipped across the country.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1930
Federal agents find a huge still with vats for 17,000 gallons in the basement at 99 Sutton Street
In 1930 the former International Cork factory was sold to a textile dyeing and finishing company. That same year agents from the federal government searched the building and discovered an enormous still in the basement, with vats big enough for 17,000 gallons of liquor. Newspapers across New York State covered the story.
Source: brownstoner.com
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