Kips Bay Brewing Company, also known as Kips Bay Brewing and Malting Co. and Patrick Skelly Brewery, was a brewery located in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

that operated from 1894 to 1947. The former company's buildings have been repurposed into offices and are one of two groups of surviving brewery structures in Manhattan from the period when brewing was a major industry in the city.

History

The brewery opened in 1894 on First Avenue between 37th and 38th streets and was originally named after Patrick Skelly, an Irishman who established the company. He renamed the business to Kips Bay Brewing Company the following year after the adjacent neighborhood of

Kips Bay Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Aven ...

. Patrick died in 1908 and ownership of the brewery was turned over to his son Hugh, who served as its president until his death in 1943. While the

East Side of Manhattan The East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park from 59th to 110th Streets, and Broadway below 8th Street separate it from the West Side. The majo ...

was home to a number of large breweries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that took advantage of the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Que ...

for shipments of malt and hops by barge and the lagering of beer in the banks of the river, the Kips Bay Brewing Company was a neighborhood brewery that did not distribute its beer outside of Manhattan, catering only to patrons at its on-site taproom and to restaurants and saloons in the local area that were reachable by deliveries from the company’s horse drawn wagons. In 1928, the brewery was shut down during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

after a raid by federal agents discovered that five percent alcohol beer was being manufactured and smuggled out of the facility through garage doors that were camouflaged with brick and imitation steam and water pipes. The federal government seized the beer and took possession of the brewing equipment. The brewery reopened in 1934 after the

repeal of Prohibition The repeal of Prohibition in the United States was accomplished with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Background In 1919, the requisite number of state legislatures ratified the Eigh ...

and remained in operation until 1947.

Redevelopment

After the closure of the brewery, both of its seven story buildings managed to escape the wrecking ball and were subsequently converted into offices. These include 660 First Avenue at the southeast corner of 38th Street and 650 First Avenue at the northeast corner of 37th Street. Along with the former Yuengling Brewing complex on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

, the Kips Bay Brewing Company is one of two groups of brewery buildings that survive in Manhattan from the period when brewing was a major industry in New York City. Each building has a copper-clad mansarded cupola in the

French Second Empire style Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...

at the corner of the roof. From 1953 to 1993, a major tenant in 660 First Avenue was CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere). The building served as CARE's United States headquarters for forty years until the organization moved to Atlanta. 660 First Avenue currently serves as medical office space for the nearby

NYU Langone Health NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and m ...

academic medical center. 650 First Avenue is a building that also primarily accommodates medical office space. While the former brewery's large floors and windowless space would normally not be appealing to most businesses, the buildings' proximity to hospitals and other doctors made them attractive as medical office space.

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* {{Midtown East, Manhattan Beer brewing companies based in New York City Murray Hill, Manhattan 1894 establishments in New York (state) 1947 disestablishments in New York (state)