Retro Brick Beauty On 4th Avenue Gets Set For Major Renovation

While the empty, four-story building at 184 4th Avenue may look rough around the edges, the former home of the Brooklyn Tile Supply Corporation in the Gowanus neighborhood is treasured by many (us included) as classic industrial architecture of a bygone era. The building was completed in 1931.

Although it may not be getting the full-fledged residential “canyon of mediocrity” treatment, the yesteryear advertisements will soon fade away. DNAinfo reports the building will soon be converted into three floors of office space.

In addition to the office space, the 6,680-square-foot building will also contain a single-car garage as well as cellar space, YIMBY reports.

Workers have begun cleaning the exterior. And while the boarded up windows may look battered and occasionally gap-toothed, historical hints of the tile which was once manufactured for bathroom accessories, walls, and medicine cabinets will also fade away with the washing. The building’s red color appeared to change hue with adjustments to the weather and seasons.

Building owner Henry Azcue has brought in an architecture firm led by Scott Schall, whose company is also working on a small Gowanus warehouse which will rise at 147 11th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues).