The iconic Domino Sugar Factory is a part of New York’s history and an entrenched image of the Brooklyn waterfront.
The Thomas Havemeyer building was originally constructed in the early 1800s, operating as a sugar refinery warehouse. At its peak in the 19th century, it was the world’s largest sugar manufacturing producer.
Its days of refining raw sugar are long over, and it was abandoned for many years, but now it’s been under construction to become a 460,000-square-foot rentable office space called The Refinery. The all-electric and net-zero carbon building will feature 2,800 rental apartments, spread across four residential buildings, 600,000 square feet of commercial office space, 200,000 square feet of retail and 6-acres of public park space.
One of the most identifiable features to the building’s architecture was undoubtedly the Domino Sugar sign. The familiar sign marked the building for over 80 years. However, the original sign was taken down following the factory’s closure in the early 2000s.
A magnificent replica of the original sign now watches over Brooklyn’s waterfront once again. The bottom part of the two-word sign that reads “sugar” was first fixed atop The Refinery building back in November. Recently, the “Domino” letters joined in position, returning the iconic symbol to The Refinery in all of its glory.
The revitalization of the sign also comes from Two Trees Management, the same real estate company that is developing The Refinery. “It’s exciting to have a sign back,” Ward Dennis, Domino Sugar Factory historian and Brooklyn native, told the New York Times. “Everybody going up and down the F.D.R. Drive remembers seeing it. Coming across the Williamsburg Bridge, there was always that Domino’s sign to welcome you home.”
While the sign is exciting, what maybe even more spectacular is a first-of-its-kind indoor vertical garden.
The same designers behind the waterfront pandemic circles that were painted in Domino Park to promote social distancing are responsible for this living plant installation that will revitalize the historical space.
A total of 17 30-foot trees, each weighing 10,000 lbs, will be hoisted up and over the building’s facade and “surgically” situated in between the old brick and new glass from the second to the tenth floor on Wednesday, April 5th.
Specifically, Nathan Bartholomew, Director of Horticulture at Domino Park who has previously worked with the US Botanical Gardens, is the one responsible for the precise selection of plantings to be put up at The Refinery. Managing Director of Two Trees, Dave Lombino, hopes to draw more tenants to the office space with its inventive biophilic design that brings the beauty of the outdoors inside.
