Feeding Brooklyn: The Gowanus Grocery Warehouse of Thomas Roulston

Editor’s note: This story is an update of one that ran in 2014. Read the original here.

Thomas Roulston, an Irish immigrant, founded the Roulston grocery chain in the 1880s. He ran the business with his son, Thomas H. Roulston. By the time he died in 1918, there were more than 230 stores in the chain, spread across Brooklyn and Long Island. According to advertising and grocery trade sources, Roulston was the largest chain of grocery stores in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century.

The building at 70-124 9th Street, at the corner of 2nd Avenue, was the chain’s main office headquarters and also held the company’s warehouse. The company purchased bulk merchandise, which was then warehoused here for distribution to the stores. They also stored coal for heating at the various locations. Having the Gowanus Canal at one’s doorway was essential for delivery of coal and other goods.

The building that housed the Roulston complex was constructed in contiguous sections that front 9th Street , beginning in 1910. The western section, the best of the building, is four stories tall and was designed by William Higginson, a well-known designer of early 20th century industrial buildings. It was followed by a one-story extension, a two-story section, another one-story section and a larger two-story section that faces 2nd Avenue. Part of the building runs underneath the Smith and 9th Street elevated train bridge. Despite all of this, the building manages to tie together stylistically.

Only the one-story section in the middle, next to the 2nd Avenue building, has no discernible style. The rest of the buildings have handsome arched windows on the upper floors. The four-story wing is the most attractive. Thomas Roulston Inc. sold all of their stores to the Sweet Life Food Corporation in 1950.

The building is on a list of potential landmarks proposed by the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition. While the Landmarks Preservation Commission recently calendared five of the buildings on the list, the Roulston building is not one of them. The building is included in the Gowanus Canal Historic District, which was declared eligible, but not ultimately listed on the National Register.

Home to industry and artists in this century, the building was recently purchased by Brooklyn developer Industrie Capital Partners, which is updating and converting the space to office and retail use. Red Hook’s Sixpoint Brewery plans to open a 20,000 square foot brewery, restaurant, bar and beer garden on the ground floor and roof in 2020, the companies announced in August.

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

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