Austin, Nichols and Company Warehouse

The Austin, Nichols and Company Warehouse is a massive, six-story concrete structure on the Williamsburg waterfront that fundamentally changed the look of industrial architecture. When it was built in 1915, most warehouses were designed strictly by engineers for utility, but this building was commissioned from Cass Gilbert, the world-famous architect who also designed the Woolworth Building. Gilbert chose an austere Egyptian Revival style, using the building’s sheer scale and rhythm of windows to create a monumental presence rather than relying on decorative ornaments. Its design was so influential that famous European modernists like Le Corbusier looked to this very building as a masterclass in how simple, structural form could be beautiful.