A Walk Around Greenpoint, Part Two: Pointing Out the Pencil Building

Yes, that's a ten-foot tall terra-cotta pencil. Its from the façade of 61 Greenpoint Avenue, between West Street and Franklin Street near the Greenpoint 'waterfront'. The unusual detail on this art-deco beauty draws its inspiration from the building's former use: the world headquarters and production plant for Eberhard-Faber, the company that brought the world the Number Two Pencil.

Eberhard-Faber occupied several buildings on the block from 1872 to 1956, when it moved operations to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The building currently hosts a wide range of artists and light-industrial tenants.

More photos of 61 Greenpoint Avenue on Flickr

History of Eberhard Faber [transcribed from King's Handbook of NYC]

Recent developments at Eberhard Faber [Wikipedia]