Andy Warhol’s Factory was located in New York City. It was the artist’s famous studio and a central meeting place for his painting, filmmaking, publishing and social activities.
The name referred to several New York locations rather than one permanent building. Warhol’s best-known early Factory opened in 1964 at 231 East 47th Street in Manhattan, where the walls and ceiling were covered in silver foil. The studio became associated with silkscreen production, experimental films, music and the people Warhol called his “Superstars.”
Warhol later moved the Factory to other Manhattan addresses, including 33 Union Square West, 860 Broadway and 22 East 33rd Street. These changing locations can cause confusion, but they were all part of the same New York creative enterprise. The final Factory operated until Warhol’s death in 1987.
The studio’s reputation came from its unusual mix of commercial art and avant-garde culture. Musicians such as Lou Reed and John Cale, performers, writers, models and filmmakers passed through its orbit. The Factory helped make New York a defining center of American Pop art and underground culture in the 1960s and 1970s.