Ansco Company Charles Street Factory Buildings

Three surviving buildings mark the site of the Ansco Company's former factory in Binghamton's First Ward. The complex once held more than fifty buildings used to make photographic films and papers, most of them demolished in 2000. The remaining structures are 15 Charles Street, a long brick and heavy-timber loft building that served as the paper plant; 17 Charles Street, a brick-clad, steel-reinforced concrete power house; and 219 Clinton Street, a concrete block warehouse built in 1953-54 as trucking replaced rail shipping. The first two date from 1910-1911 and reflect early efforts at fire-resistant industrial construction, including controlled interiors for paper manufacturing and fire-separated boiler and dynamo rooms. The warehouse represents the company's last profitable era in the city. Today the buildings hold offices, storage, a dance studio, student housing and medical offices, while keeping exposed brick, timber and steel structure. They were listed for their industrial history and their construction types.