Last night, a beloved monument, the Domino Sugar sign, was lit up on top of the Thomas Havemeyer building’s new barrel vaulted glass roof. This restored landmark will be visible from the Brooklyn waterfront for the first time in eight years.
The “Sugar” part of the new sign was completed in November, but the more intricate “Domino” portion was just completed. The new sign is 30 feet tall and matches the original’s dimensions, with eco-friendly LED lights that are brighter than the neon versions. Dave Lombino of Two Trees said that the aluminum is also much lighter than the original sign’s metal.
The Thomas Havemeyer building was the sugar refinery on the Williamsburg plant’s full 11-acre campus. It served that purpose from its construction in 1882 until 2003. For many years, the sign signaling Williamsburg was near was brightly illuminated with yellow lights and the familiar typeface of the Thomas Havemeyer Company.
Brooklyn’s old Domino plant was once the largest in America. Another factory still operates in Baltimore; their updated sign was unveiled last spring. One local “type-set geek” told Baltimore Magazine that each letter on the old sign from 1951 was a work of art, taking into account there was no technology for reproducing an image to scale back then.
After 2003, buildings around the Brooklyn site were destroyed so that redevelopment plans could be made. Officials in 2009 asked for a spot for the famous sign on top of one of these buildings, which wasn’t protected as a landmark.
The Domino Sugar sign is a historical landmark, and Two Trees worked with sign specialists to create a replica that is as faithful to the original design as possible. The original remains intact, and Two Trees is looking for a new home for it.
The Refinery is a new, revitalized plant that is being designed by the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism. The glass walls surrounding all 460,000 square feet of office space will be set back from the original exterior by 15 feet, with vines and 30-foot-tall sweetgum trees in between. The space will be all-electric, net-zero carbon, and open next year.