THIS sign for an optician at #364 7th Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets in Park Slope is a true throwback. Not because of its age; it’s pretty old — but because there was a time when business proprietors slapped their names on sidewalk signs, awning signs, and even buildings. And, from what I understand on Google, Reddit, etc. John Semioli still runs Ansonia Optical. The sign, which I photographed in October 2024, has now begun to fade considerably compared to the last time I was by a few years ago. Why Ansonia Optical and not Semioli Optical?
Seen here is the former Ansonia clock factory, which takes up almost the entire block between 7th and 8th Avenues and 12th and 13th Streets.
Ansonia was founded in Derby, Connecticut in 1851 as a subsidiary of a brass business run by Anson Phelps in the Naugatuck River valley. Ansonia shelf clocks are still very collectible today, with their expert craftsmanship and accurate timekeeping: the firm’s clock cases were made of mahogany, rosewood, and other quality materials. Ansonia moved to Brooklyn in 1879; their original factory there burned down immediately, but the second is still here on 7th Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets.
Active clock production at Ansonia Clocks ended about 1930, whence the machinery was sold off to a Russian manufacturer. For some decades, the factory has been divided into apartments and renamed Ansonia Court.
The Factory stopped being a factory in the late ’70s, and bohemian types, musicians and artists, started renting loft space. Then, to everyone’s amazement, The Factory was converted to condos in the ’80s and renamed Ansonia Court. I’d say more than half the guys I hung out with in The Factory are dead now, some lost to street violence, some to drugs, booze, cancer and war.
But last week, as I stood under the big clock of the Williamsburg Bank Building, 40 summers later, I learned they were getting $800,000 for two bedrooms in The Factory, and I just had to close my eyes in the warm July sun and shake my head and laugh. Denis Hamill
It’s probably a lot more now!
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12/30/24
2 comments
I lived a block from there back in the ’80s, when the clock factory was being converted to condos. If I recall correctly, a 2-bed condo was about $220k, which I thought was expensive. Looks like a good deal now.
Some years after Anson Phelps founded his business in Derby the section in which it operated became a separate municipality called – surprise! – Ansonia.
According to what I found on Instagram, Ansonia Optical dates back to 1990.