this is the former Montauk Paint building located on 13th Street and 2nd Avenue in Gowanus, Brooklyn. It was built in 1908 for William Kelly, the President of the Brooklyn Alcatraz Asphalt Company, as an investment property. There used to be stables owned by the company as well next to it. The first tenant of the building was the Montauk Paint Company, which was founded in 1908 by a mother-son duo of Margaret and Frank Cornell. The company manufactured all kinds of paints and varnishes, and because this was the early 1900s, that included “white lead,” so that’s fun. Brooklyn was a center of paint production at this time; however, by the 1930s, the Montauk Paint Company closed up shop, and the factory was rented by Norge Sailmakers, who, as the name implies, manufactured sails. From 2010 to 2023, the building served as a studio for sculptor Mardig Kachian, who moved here from his building on West Street. It most recently sold in 2024 for $5.7 million. According to the website of the agent that sold the building, the property was sold to a “well-capitalized artist.” It was landmarked on October 29th, 2019.