5Pointz
A Queens factory became an internationally curated graffiti landmark, only for its owner to whitewash the art overnight and demolish the walls beneath luxury towers.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A former industrial complex in Long Island City used as a legally curated aerosol-art centre.
Artists from around the world painted changing murals across the buildings under curator Jonathan Cohen.
Existence timeline
Artists receive permission to paint the factory.
Jonathan Cohen curates the complex.
Layers of aerosol art attract artists and visitors.
New York permits residential towers.
The owner covers the works overnight.
The physical art centre disappears.
Why it ended
The owner whitewashed the works in 2013 and demolished the complex in 2014 after winning redevelopment approval.
Last confirmed trace
Photographic surveys, court evidence and thousands of artist images preserve a site whose art was inseparable from its walls.
What it left behind
A federal damages award under the Visual Artists Rights Act made the destruction a landmark US moral-rights case.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.