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Andy Warhol’s Second Factory 1892

by John H. Edelmann

When Andy Warhol’s original Factory Building on East 47th Street was being demolished, the artist moved into the Decker Building in 1967 and set up his new Factory on the 6th floor. 

Only a year after Warhol settled into his new factory, Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist writer and marginal Factory figure, shot Warhol and art critic Mario Amaya, claiming that Warhol was conspiring to steal her work after he had misplaced one of her scripts. After the incident, she turned herself into the police and served three years in prison.

Though Amaya left the hospital the same day of the shooting with minor injuries, Warhol barely survived the attack. The shooting had a profound affect on his life, and he suffered physically for the rest of his life as a result of his injuries.

After the incident, the Factory became more tightly controlled and moved to a more secure building on Broadway & Union Square West.