It ceased to be an active brewery in 1920 due to Prohibition in the United States, which outlawed alcoholic beverage production.

[2][3] When freshwater was discovered under northern Brooklyn during the late 19th century, including under Williamsburg and Bushwick, resulted in the development of breweries, where many German immigrants worked at the time.

[5][6] William Ulmer (1833–1907), an immigrant from the German territory of Württemberg, was one of the early settlers in the Bushwick brewery district.

[15] Over the years, several improvements were made to the brewery to accommodate additional brewing capacity and to utilize advances in that industry.

[11][13] Ulmer obtained land at Locust and Beaver streets from the family of Elizabeth Debevoise in 1880, and he built the new storage house there soon afterward.

[16] The Eagle stated in 1886 that the counting-houses at Ulmer Brewery and several others in the area were "not surpassed by anything of the kind on Broadway or Wall Street".

[11][13] In 1897, Wunder submitted plans to replace the storage house's wood frame with cast iron columns.

[11][20] Weber, as well as Ulmer's wife Catherine and his other son-in-law John F. Becker, served as directors of the newly reincorporated company.

[11][21] The container, designed by Frank Stanley, was so large that part of the floor had to be cut out to accommodate it.

[25][26] The main brew house was sold in 1922 and was acquired in 1923 by Marcus Leavitt, who renovated it and replaced the courtyard behind the building with a parking garage.

[11] The main brew house received a new sprinkler system, fire escapes, and exit doors in the 1950s.

[26] In 1985, Jay Swift, a stone sculptor and marble worker, purchased the office building[28] and renovated it.

[29] Swift recalled that "the first time I rode my bike down that street and saw that building, I almost fell over", but that the structure was also beset with leaks, broken glass, and dilapidated interiors.

[26] By 2008, The New York Times mentioned that a furniture designer lived on the first floor of the office building.

[30] The same year, G4 Capital Partners lent $10 million to the Rivington Company for the renovation of the office structures.

[36] The Rivington Company then applied to the city's Board of Standards and Appeals to allow the office structures to be used as residences.

There was also a courtyard that connected all of these buildings, which had a frame shed and a wash house–racking room measuring one to two stories high; the courthouse was replaced with a parking garage in 1924.

[39] According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the main brew house from 1872 and the annex from 1881 were designed by the Brooklyn architect Theobald Engelhardt.

[40] As with other factory structures built in that era,[40] regularly spaced window openings let in natural light but also allowed an "organization" and "dignity",[44] while decorative brick facades allowed for both a fire-resistant material and a "relatively economical means of relieving plain brickwork".

[45] The main brew house, built in 1872 and expanded in 1881, is located at the western corner of Beaver and Belvidere streets.

The first floor contains several doors and a roll-down metal gate on Beaver Street, but features few windows.

The interiors of the four above-ground stories, in both the original structure and the annex, contain similar finishes.

The above-ground stories are largely arranged in an open plan, interrupted by a single load-bearing wall made of brick.

[48] When the brewery was in operation, the main brew house and its annex were used for storing, mashing, and boiling malt grains, as well as fermenting and cooling wort.

After the wort had cooled down and mixed with yeast, it was sent to an even colder room where it would ferment for about ten days, turning into a mixture with about 2% alcohol content.

To keep the beer cold enough for consumption, the brewery bought natural ice in large quantities.

The rear elevation, facing northwest, cannot be seen from the street but has eight window openings per story, four each from the northeastern and southwestern halves of the building.

[57] The office building was intended as the brewery's "focal point" and, by extension, a representation of Ulmer's company.

[55] The office building features a cobblestone facade, a slate-covered mansard roof, and terracotta ornament.

The driveway is accessed by an elaborate black wrought-iron gate, which likely dates to 1885 and is decorated with floral and geometric motifs.