Brooklyn's Historic Coignet Building Is Finally Restored

By Miranda Katz • May 10, 2016 9:24 a.m.

The two-and-a-half story, Italianate building at the corner of Brooklyn's 3rd and 3rd has gone by many names: historians may remember it as the former headquarters of the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company; others know it as the Pippin building; and to a select few, it's just that pesky building that was in the way when Whole Foods first planted its flag in Brooklyn. For decades, the Coignet Building sat alone on that corner, falling into a state of disrepair as luxury condos and artisanal coffee shops sprang up in the surrounding neighborhood—but over the past year and a half, the decaying historical building underwent a serious restoration, and now the landmark is restored to its nineteenth century splendor, boasting a historic façade and a $5 million price tag.

Today, after a much-prolonged restoration, the Coignet Building is back to looking as it did when it was first completed in 1873. It was built as the headquarters of the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company, the first U.S. company to manufacture the concrete commonly known as "artificial stone." The office, built out of that stone, is the first known concrete building in New York City, and shortly after its completion, Coignet stone enjoyed a brief heyday here: the company was commissioned to produce the stone that formed the arches and clerestory windows in St. Patrick's Cathedral; the Cleft Ridge Span in Prospect Park; and some of the earliest portions of the American Museum of Natural History.