RECENTLY home to Newel Props, which rents furniture for movie and stage productions, and the City View Racquet Club, this building which fills an entire block at Skillman Avenue and Van Dam Street and contains over a thousand windows is the former home of Swingline Staples, founded by Jack Linsky in 1925 as the Parrot Speed Fastener Company, changing the name to Speed Products in 1939 and then Swingline in 1956. The company moved to this new headquarters on Skillman Avenue in 1950. In 1998 Swingline eliminated its Queens factory, moving it to Nogales, Mexico.
In 2002 the Museum of Modern Art was renovating its East 53rd Street building and moved for a year into another Swingline building on 33rd Street north of Queens Boulevard. In a way, that was fitting because Jack Linsky and his wife Belle were collectors of fine art, including works by including paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Gerard David, and François Boucher. The works were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and can be found there in the Belle Linsky Galleries. The Linskys were also famed philanthropists, donating millions to charity. But the Swingline jobs have disappeared from the USA.
33-02 Skillman Avenue has been home to three large studios for dance and theater artists and a rehearsal studio for musicians.
Swingline was famed for its giant neon Swingline staples sign on the roof, featuring a working stapler. In 1998, when Swingline decamped to Mexico (and from thence to China later), the neon lettering was removed. The 60 by 50-foot sign’s lettering required six men working three ten hour days to pull down.
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4/6/23
7 comments
The Black cast metal Swingline on my dest says ” Swingline inc. L.I.C. N.Y. 11101″ It dates from about 1973
Some dude once tried to borrow my American made Swingline and it was:
“Not on your life,buddy!”
You can’t get a good stapler anymore unless you shop for vintage Swinglines!
I use a Bostitch
I remember seeing the Swingline large sign on this building from the subway that passed by it when I was 10 years old and with my father in 1983. My father was born in South Bronx (Forrest Ave)in 1933, moved to Murray Hill Queens (33rd road)in the 1940, later graduated from Pratt. We were in NY visiting our relatives.
The Swingline sign was seared into my memory, I always remember it. Funny how some small things you don’t forget. Keep up the great posts. Best wishes from Miami.
I remember seeing the Swingline sign on my school every day from the subway, I have a Swingline stapler on my desk as I’m typing I haven’t used it in a long time. It’s made from plastic and feels cheaply made as compared to old ones and now I understand why. I always wondered what happen to them as I still drive by and didn’t see the sign. Thank you!
Any photos of the factory floor? The production line? Etc.