The Ward Baking Company Building was an industrial facility in Prospect Heights,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It was constructed in 1911 by George S. Ward as a baking plant for the Ward Bread Company, which later became the

Continental Baking Company The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company. Hist ...

. According to the Ward Baking Company, the Ward Building housed the first "sanitary and scientific bakery in America." The building housed hundreds of workers who produced 250,000 loaves of bread per day. It was demolished in 2007 to make way for

Pacific Park Pacific Park is an oceanfront amusement park located in Santa Monica, California. The park, located on the Santa Monica Pier, looks directly out on the Pacific Ocean, in the direction of Santa Catalina Island. It is the only amusement park di ...

Building

The Ward Building stretched from the south side of Pacific Street to the north side of Dean Street, between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues, in

Prospect Heights, Brooklyn Prospect Heights is a neighborhood in the northwest of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The traditional boundaries are Flatbush Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Eastern Parkway – beginning at Grand Army Plaza – to ...

. The Ward Building was five stories tall, with a facade of glazed white

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

tiles. Grecian-inspired arches ran the length of the building, front and back. Ornamental detailing ran the length of the building. At one end stood a smoke stack, previously used in the baking process. It had six floors, a basement, and sub-basement, with a total area is more than . It received flour shipments via the adjacent rail lines.

History

In 1911, George S. Ward, President of the Ward Baking Company, built the Ward Building to accommodate a large industrial bakery. To prepare for designing the building, Ward and members of the architectural firm he hired, C. B. Comstock, went on a tour of buildings and manufacturing facilities in Europe. Corry B. Comstock also designed a similar factory in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. A 1921 Ward Bakery Publication,''The Story of our Research Products'' described Ward as having “the courage and the pioneer spirit to erect the first sanitary and scientific bakery in America.” It also described the Ward Building as “the snow-white temple of bread-making cleanliness.” The company was one of the largest commercial bakers in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1953, the Pechter Baking Company bought the plant. It was a Jewish company that made

bagels A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. T ...

and

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

, among other products. During a delivery driver strike in 1957, they gave away products until a mob formed on the street and they had to stop. In 1973, Pechter merged with another bakery to become Pechter Field's Bakery, and they continued to operate out of the factory on Pacific Street. The company went out of business and closed the bakery in 1995, partly due to the cost of maintaining the outdated facility. At the time, it was one of the last independent bakeries in the New York area. A connected warehouse at 808 Pacific Street was used for a self-storage business as late as 2007.

Demolition

In 2006, the

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

ruled that the building did not qualify as a landmark. The Atlantic Yards redevelopment project Environmental Impact Statement said that the building was not feasible to convert into housing. It was demolished in 2007-2008. There is a monument to the baking plant near its former location.

References

External links

Ward Bakery is Toast
{{coord, 40, 40, 51.48, N, 73, 58, 8.55, W, region:US-NY, display=title Industrial buildings and structures in Brooklyn Prospect Heights, Brooklyn 1911 establishments in New York City 2007 disestablishments in New York City Industrial buildings completed in 1911

Building

History

Demolition

See also

References

External links