City Landmarks East New York Dairy Bedecked With Cow Mosaics

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — A century-old East New York dairy, known for its iconic ceramic mosaics of Swiss cows, has been designated as a landmark, records show.

The Empire State Dairy Company buildings at 2840 Atlantic Ave. were earmarked for preservation by the Landmarks Preservation Committee during a public hearing on Tuesday, according to city records.

“These brick buildings stand today as century-old reminders of the once prominent New York dairy companies and of East New York’s and Brooklyn’s important industrial past,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan. “The Commission is proud to landmark Empire State Dairy."

The Renaissance/Romanesque Revival style complex was first commissioned by the Empire State Dairy Company in 1905 and built in two separate stages, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Theobold Engelhardt — the renowned Brooklyn architect responsible for the terra cotta detailing — designed the buildings that went up between 1906 to 1907, according to city records.

Then Otto Strack designed an additional annex — bedecked with ceramic tile mosaics of cows on the Swiss countryside — which was completed in 1915, records show.

The complex functioned as a milk and ice cream processing site until the early 1980s, after which the site closed and remained uninhabited, records show.

The current owners opposed landmarking the complex, arguing that the buildings had fallen into disrepair and needed to be decontaminated, according to Curbed New York, but preservation activists celebrated the decision.

“The designation of the Empire State Dairy marks an important chapter for our community," said Zulmilena Then, Founder of Preserving East New York.

"We celebrate it as one of the many symbols of East New York’s rich history and a turning point where East New York’s beauty will no longer go unrecognized.”

Photo courtesy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission