- New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company building in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Photo: LPC.
1872 Brooklyn building designated unanimously. Landmarks designated the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building at 360 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, the city’s earliest known concrete structure. Designed by William Field and Son, the 1872 building was meant to showcase the possibilities of concrete. Francois Coignet, the company’s founder, was an early proponent of concrete as an alternative to stone, and pioneered ways of producing large masses and blocks using molds, as well as a type of reinforced concrete. Coignet’s important commissions included parts of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and the Western Union Telegraph Building. The quasi-Italianate building features ionic columns, a faux brick facade, a decorative parapet, and arched window openings. Preservationist groups that supported designation included the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society and the Society for the Architecture of the City.
LPC: New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building, 360 Third Ave. (LP-2202) (June 27, 2006).