2. It contains one of the city’s smallest historic districts

Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory in Greenpoint

If you’ve ever passed by the building colloquially known as the Pencil Factory, you might have noticed the large pencils that still decorate uppermost floor of the building’s facade. Constructed in 1923-24, this building was the newest of the factories that form the Eberhart Faber Pencil Factory Historic District. Consisting of just eight buildings and one freestanding wall, it’s one of New York City’s smallest historic districts.

Most of the buildings in this district were constructed between the mid-1880s and the 1910s and were designed in the German Renaissance Revival Style. The German pencil producer Eberhart Faber moved to Greenpoint after a 1872 fire ravaged his factory on East 42nd Street and constructed the six-story factory that employed hundreds of people, including many women. According to Atlas Obscura, Eberhart Faber moved its operations to Pennsylvania in 1956. Today the building houses condos and offices, and for a while it was home to a yoga studio.