Unique Library in 1920's Industrial Building Brooklyn

Welcome to Brooklyn Optics, our 1920s Williamsburg historic industrial four-story building! Blending history with production, our building contains its original 1940 stainless steel freight elevator. We hold multiple production and film spaces all within one complex. We are your space for abandoned, haunted or vacant shoot projects. Likewise, because we can control the interior environment, coupled with its solid brick and concrete ceilings, many of the spaces lend themselves to recordings and audio interviews. Our authentic industrial distressed location has been featured in BBC, FOX News, and Cosmopolitan productions. Our 300 sq. ft. Library space boasts high ceilings, park views, soundproof windows, and adjustable lighting, making it perfect for your team’s needs. The soundproof windows made with two layers, including quarter-inch safety glass, are perfect for audio recordings, interviews, and live music. With no other tenants on-site, we even control the industrial freight elevator during your production, ensuring a seamless experience. For production teams seeking a variety of distinct spaces, our building offers multiple shoot locations all accessible via our freight elevator. Whether you're filming in one area or moving between several, we can accommodate your project’s unique needs. The Vintage Library is more than a space, it’s a living archive of resilience, craftsmanship, and the beauty of imperfection. Its 100-year-old work objects, marked by blistered paint, burn scars, and saw cuts, tell stories of labor and skill, while the apostate conference table, branded “F.J. Mitman 1908,” stands as a proud testament to craftsmanship. Every dent and scratch speaks of persistence, like the 1940s MK-1 sawhorse, still standing strong despite its mis-cuts. Even small details, like a chandelier pull tag repurposed from an mis-punched factory badge, carry history. The Library isn’t just for film shoots and meetings, it’s a forum for book clubs, design workshops, and radical ideas, housing vintage books once censored for their bold truths. And yes, it has secret compartments, because some truths have always needed hiding. Please Note: The plants live in our Vintage Library space during the winter to ride out the cold. From April until November, they bask in the sunlight on our Rooftop Garden space. If you're interested in that space, visit my profile page to view all our listings, and look for the "Roof Gardens on Industrial Building" listing. We prioritize all-day shoots on weekends. If you're interested in booking for fewer hours, please reach out to us for weekday availability. For shoots with more than 15 people, please contact us in advance. We can accommodate larger groups depending on the project, but all groups over 15 are subject to review. We have successfully hosted large-scale productions, but if you’re looking to create a party-style event, please choose a different venue. Our space is a carefully curated film location designed for professional production teams. Refer to the last photo in the listing for house rules, details on in-house props, and equipment rentals. ***** Rate includes exclusive access to the third floor library. Library: 300 sq feet Ceiling: 10’ – Single bathroom with lockable dressing room – Custom expandable table and chairs – Lounge chair – Custom bookshelves and books Access: Conveniently located near the 4, L, M, J, and G train lines. Our loading dock, ramps, and elevator are perfect for loading equipment and material. Nothing needs to be lifted, roll your equipment out of the vehicle straight into the freight elevator. – Double truck in-house loading dock – Loading ramps – Freight Elevator: 4’6”W x 4’6”D x 7’H; Door Width, 3’7” – Street Parking nearby – High speed internet Power: – 3 x 20 amp electrical walkway threshold guards to offset a trip hazard – Four extension cords Windows: The windows can be controlled: either blacked out or filtered for light. Lighting Included in Rental: - RGB/bi-lights that can be remote-controlled in the ceiling fan and along the globes. These lights are included in the rental agreement. Lighting Equipment Available as Add-Ons: - 80W RGB Spotlight with Fresnel Focusing Lens – A versatile spotlight available for $30 per rental. - GoBo Optical Snoot with Screen Effect – Mounted over the desk, can be repositioned for $50 per remount. - 2x LS Photo Studio LED Lights (6500K, 75W each) with Softbox & Rolling Stands – Available for $40 per rental (pair included). - 4x Low-Profile LED Bi-Lights (3600K - 5600K) with NP Batteries – Compact "Baby Aputure" light panels, ideal for hidden lighting. Available for $40 for all four. - 4x CFL 45W Daylight Bulbs with Reflectors – Comes with two stands and two LED bulbs, offering three settings (incandescent, daylight, high-white). $30 for both. - 4x Light Stands (7' height) – Sturdy light stands available for $50 for all four. - Smoke Machine – Enhance your lighting effects with an atmospheric haze. Available for $30 per rental. Other Important Items: – First Aid Kit (Institutional Grade) – Required fire extinguishers on all floors. Adding to the Vintage Library's unique character are 100-year-old work objects that tell stories of labor through their worn surfaces—blistered paint, burn marks, and saw cuts. The accordion scaffolds, with their scars and paint splatters, bear witness to the rugged work they supported. The centerpiece of the space is our custom conference table, branded with the mark of "F.J. Mitman" from 1908 Bethlehem, PA—a proud symbol of craftsmanship. Have you ever considered the beauty in imperfections? Each scratch, dent, and blemish in this space tells a story of hard work and skill. Like the 1940s MK-1 sawhorse, marked with mis-cuts and gouges, but still standing strong—these are the marks of a continual journey. While we often celebrate the successes of design and invention, every creator has a history of failed attempts. We embrace this truth, believing that the mistakes are just as important as the successes. This is the pride embodied by our apostate conference table. Look closely, and you'll see more stories in the details. Our chandelier fan pull tag, made from a factory worker’s badge from the Textile Machine Works in Reading, PA, tells its own tale—the badge number was hand-punched upside down, then corrected. The 150-year-old farm shutters, weathered but still strong, are a testament to the enduring power of old-world craftsmanship, surviving neglect and outlasting modern construction techniques. Can anything you create stand the test of time like this? The Library is not just a space for film shoots, headshots, and meetings. It’s a live forum for Brooklyn book clubs, design workshops, and collaborative research projects that go beyond the isolation of the internet. Our collection includes vintage books from publishers who made scientific knowledge accessible to the working class, as well as underground literature on survival, sexuality, and societal critique. We even have 1920s sex education books, which, if shared by a feminist back then, would have been banned under the Comstock laws. Hidden in our shelves are stories of resistance and resilience. Does this library boast secret compartments? Of course it does. How would you hide the truth during discriminatory times? We have a full multi-material workshop within the building. Those who treat us with respect may use this as a resource. Contains: table saws, chop saws, power tools, industrial sewing machines, stock of plywood & various solid wood, fabric, screws and bolt hardware, industrial grade scissors, a glue gun, staplers, moving blankets/sound barriers etc. Explore additional shoot locations in our building, including an industrial loft, rooftop garden, optical store, workshop, and loading dock. Contact us for more information on prop rentals and multiple production spaces.