| Brewster Building | |
|---|---|
 View of the building from the south, including a bit of 27th St | |
 Interactive map of Brewster Building | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 27-01Queens Plaza North Queens,New York 11101 U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°45′01.8″N73°56′20.0″W / 40.750500°N 73.938889°W /40.750500; -73.938889 |
| Current tenants | |
| Construction started | 1910 |
| Owner | BRAUSE PLAZA NORTH LLC |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 7 |
TheBrewster Building is a 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m2) building at 27-01Queens Plaza North inLong Island City,Queens,New York City. Once an assembly plant forRolls-Royce automobiles,Brewster automobiles, andBrewster airplanes, in particular theBrewster F2A Buffalo fighter and theSB2A Buccaneer light bomber, it later became the corporate headquarters forJetBlue Airways.
The building, designed byStephenson & Wheeler,[1] opened in 1911 to handle the assembly of the chassis for the Brewster cars that were being built since 1905 at47th Street andBroadway inTimes Square in nearbyManhattan. The building was one of the first major developments at the foot of theQueensboro Bridge, opened in 1909, which reduced car transport from Queens to Times Square to a matter of minutes. In 1915 it began building the Brewster Knight.
In 1925, the company was bought byRolls-Royce of America, which had been operating out of a plant inSpringfield, Massachusetts. In 1931, the Rolls-Royce Springfield operation ended. From 1931 to 1934,Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis were shipped directly to the Long Island City plant when Rolls-Royce terminated its United States assembly program.[2]
From 1934 to 1936, under J. S. Inskip, Brewster automobiles usingFord chassis were built at the plant. The Brewster operation ceased in 1936.[2] TheBrewster Aeronautical Corporation manufactured theBrewster F2A Buffalo and a version of theVought F4U Corsair known as the F3A-1 duringWorld War II at the plant. The multi-story layout of the building limited airplane production efficiency. The aircraft were flown fromRoosevelt Field inMineola.[3]
The building fell into disrepair following the war and its clock tower was dismantled in 1950. A series of garment manufacturers occupied the building until 1996.[1] In 1996, Brause Realty extensively remodeled the building and an adjoining 12-story tower and it became an operational center forMetropolitan Life Insurance with 1,500 employees.[4]
In 2010, JetBlue announced it would combine employees at its existing largeKew Gardens, Queens and small 70-personDarien, Connecticut campuses into the building, bringing 1,000 employees to it. JetBlue is the only major airline headquartered in New York City.[5] The new headquarters is 6 miles (9.7 km) from the previous one.[6] JetBlue, looking for a new corporate headquarters, had also considered moving toOrlando, Florida. As part of taking on the moniker of being the hometown airline of New York City, JetBlue announced it would be joint branding the "I Love New York" logo.[5] JetBlue stated in 2012 that it plans to construct a 40-foot (12 m) lighted sign stating "JetBlue" on top of the 8th floor, adjacent to the outdoor terrace.[7]
Media related toBrewster Building (Queens) at Wikimedia Commons
