MAN, I’m digging the old brick factory buildings in “South Brooklyn” that have since been repurposed. 132 32nd Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues is just such a building, a palace of a brick factory. 132 32nd has some faded printing on the 4th Avenue side that is matched on the other side of the building further down 32nd Street. I make out “Jay C. Wemple, Window Shades” and the no linger used word “warerooms.” There is also a pentimento, or overprint, of other printed words on top, as well. Frank Jump at Faded Ads has a newspaper clipping for the Wemple shades.
If you look at the 1940 photo of the building in the Municipal Archives, you see the words “Grand Corrugated Paper Co.” at the roofline, with no trace of the Wemple window shades ads. Here’s what I think happened:
— The Wemple ads appeared first. Later, the entire brickface was painted over and the Grand Corrugated ad was painted at the roofline.
— Later, the more recent paint, which was of lesser quality, faded away or flaked off — revealing the Wemple ads once again.
As usual, the Indispensable Walter Grutchfield comes through in the clutch like Mike Piazza, and has the dates 1892-1917 when the Wemple firm was in the building.
The building has since been rebranded as the BRIQ Building, containing multiple offices and light manufacturing. The company website features pictures of the interior and provides short histories of the Bush Terminal area and the building itself.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site. Take a look at the new JOBS link in the red toolbar at the top of the page on the desktop version, as I also get a small payment when you view a job via that link.
10/16/24