St. Michael's as viewed from Jersey Alley, ca. 1975.

Anshe Chesed and Rodeph Sholom are respectively the oldest and second oldest surviving synagogue buildings in the city, and some of the oldest in the country. Both were constructed for German Jewish congregations in German architectural styles: Gothic Revival and Rundbogenstil (“round-arch style”), and feature red brick, central staircases and symmetrical façades with recessed central sections and square towers. Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue is the only Greek Synagogue in New York and the only synagogue of Romaniote Jews in the Western Hemisphere. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was America’s first major house of worship built by Eastern European Orthodox Jews. The yellow brick building features Moorish and Romanesque details and rich ornament. At its peak in the early 20th century, the synagogue hosted as many as 1,000 worshippers at services, but was forced to close in the mid-20th century when the area’s Jewish population began to dwindle. In 1986, the Eldridge Street Project funded a large-scale restoration of the building, which was repurposed as a museum. The Former Congregation Anshe Chesed, Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and the Former Eldridge Street Synagogue are all designated New York City Individual Landmarks.

Catholics make up over twenty percent of the population of the United States. However, there was a time when the novelty of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the country made it a tourist destination and an artist's subject. St. Patrick's on Mott Street below Houston was one of such churches.

"200-208 Bowery, west side, between Spring and Prince Streets, 134." The Federal style building at no. 206 (with the Barber sign) dates, along with its neighbor, to the 1810s. Once a pair amongst many Federal style buildings on the Bowery, most have been demolished and replaced or altered beyond recognition. No. 206 was constructed with a shop space on the first floor and residential space upstairs for the merchant's family. The ground floor retail space has seen a variety of businesses over its more than 200 years, including a shoe store, thread and needle shop, dentist, engraving business, and an umbrella store. At some point in the late 19th century, the upstairs space became one of many lodging houses on the Bowery, catering to " street salesmen and clerks, whose small wages will not admit of better quarters.” At some point in the 20th century no. 204 had its peaked roof and dormers converted into an additional floor. Today no. 206 remains as evidence of the early architectural of the neighborhood and houses a restaurant supply store.

Germania Hall (with the flags), ca. 1870. Germania Hall (or Assembly Rooms) was a brick building, constructed in the mid 1860s, that hosted gatherings of the local German immigrant population beginning in 1874. In the 1870s and 1880s political and social clubs held meetings here and a second floor theatre presented ethnic performances (including German, Yiddish, Italian, Polish and French). Later the visitors to the building became seedier, with gambling its main business. During the 20th century the former Assembly Hall building served as a low-cost lodging house and a mixed-use factory. It was demolished in 2006 for a new residential building.

Rivington Street, north side, west from Ludlow Street, showing a station of the Second Ave. Elevated Line on Allen Street.

Former Germania Bank building, ca. 1975. In 1966, the Germania Bank Building was sold to Jay Maisel, a commercial photographer. Maisel maintained his residence and studio there until February, 2015, when the building sold for $55 million. During Maisel’s residence, the grand, mysterious building’s exterior became a magnet for graffiti artists and a well known Bowery landmark. After the 2015 sale, decades of graffiti, grime, and character were stripped from the facade as the building was prepared for commercial renovation.

Unknown architect ca. 1799 This Federal-style building may be another 18th century survivor. Records show that from 1799– 1802 a butcher occupied this address. It retains original features such as its steeply pitched roof, and, if one looks closely, paneled stone lintels on the second story. Unfortunately, its twin pedimented dormers were removed in 2011.

Grand and Allen Streets, from the Allen Street meridian mall. From 1878 to 1942, the Second Avenue El ran over Allen Street. In the early 1930s, the demolition of buildings on the street’s East side made room for what is now the eastern roadway, with the elevated tracks occupying the western side and a pedestrian mall in between. The storefront at 315 Grand is Goldman & Ostrow, “distributors of national advertised brands of infants and children’s wear.”

Bowery Mission ARCHITECT: William Jose DATE: 1876 The Bowery Mission is significant for its 103-year history as the home of the Bowery Mission, a religious-based organization that has fed, housed and cared for countless homeless men on the Lower East Side for more than 130 years. It is constructed with red brick and has four bays of windows with incised stone lintels and sills at the third through fifth stories. The ground floor has three arch-headed openings with keystone lintels, a bracketed cornice and stone banding.

205 East Houston Street, ca. 1975. Ludlow Street façade of Katz's Delicatessen, 205 East Houston Street. In 1888, the Iceland brothers established what is now known as Katz’s Delicatessen on the east side of Ludlow Street, opposite its present location. Upon the arrival of Willy Katz in 1903, the establishment's name was changed from Iceland Brothers to Iceland & Katz, and later to just Katz's when the Icelands sold their share. Katz’s moved to the west side of Ludlow Street during the mid-1930s, due to construction of the Houston-Essex Street Line segment of the IND Sixth Avenue Line subway.

"First milestone ('1 mile to City Hall'), Bowery and Prince Street, 1897." In 1769 the city’s Common Council installed 14 milestones radiating away from City Hall (then at Wall and Nassau Streets). Additional markers were erected in 1812 and 1822. It is unknown from which batch this milestone dates. (The photographic notes refer to it as the 'first.') This location at Prince Street was likely not its first home, as the milestones had to be moved after the new City Hall opened in 1811. Though a number of milestones can still be found on the streets (and a couple more can be seen in NYC museums), this milestone has been lost to history.

“Neighborhood Guild Library, 26 Delancey Street, in two windows to left of fire escape, 3rd floor.” In 1893, The University Settlement, a social services aid society then known as the Neighborhood Guild, moved from its original location on Forsyth Street to a larger building at 26 Delancey Street. The building itself had four floors which housed a gymnasium, a library and reading rooms, a room for the cooking school, a pool and billiards room, and various club rooms, as well as residential spaces. In 1898, the Settlement moved again, to its present location on Eldridge Street. In 1929, the City acquired land between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets, including 26 Delancey, with the intention of building low-cost housing. Instead, the land became part of the seven-block Sara D. Roosevelt Park, opened in 1934.

Police Department Headquarters, ca. 1905. Following the consolidation of the five boroughs, the city decided that it required a larger police headquarters. The small building on Mulberry Street, where Teddy Roosevelt had served as Police Commissioner, was now insufficient for a police force that quadrupled in size since the building opened in the 1860s. In 1905 the cornerstone was laid for a new, massive building on the wedge-shaped lot that had once housed the old Centre Market. The Beaux-Arts behemoth was designed by the firm of Hoppin & Koen and completed in 1909. The new five-story building was topped with a large copper dome. The facilities of the new headquarters included a basement shooting range and a rooftop observation deck. The design both inside and out aimed “to impress both the officer and the prisoner with the majesty of the law.” The police remained in this building until 1973 when they decamped to a brand new modern (Brutalist) building on Park Row. The building on Centre Street remained empty for some years with plans and proposals bandied about for a conversion to a hotel, cultural center, or museum. Finally in 1983 the City agreed to allow the building to be converted into luxury condos. The new complex, called the Police Building, opened to residents in 1988. Interestingly, while planning the condo conversion, it was discovered that the building exceeded the property lot lines on all sides—in some cases by several feet. Obviously the new owners were unable and unwilling to move the building's facades back to line up with the property lines on the official city planning map (both financially and because the Landmarks Commission would never allow it). The city eventually grandfathered the building's current shape into the municipal maps.

St. Michael's Russian Catholic Byzantine Church, ca. 1970-1990. The "Gothic Gingerbread" style building was constructed in 1859 as the Chancery Office for nearby St. Patrick's Cathedral (now Old St. Patrick's). The building was designed by James Renwick, Jr. and William Rodrigue, the architects who quickly after would go on to create the new larger St. Patrick's uptown. The building became a small chapel called St. Michael's for some time. In 1936 it became St. Michael's Russian Catholic Byzantine Church. The small church has served the modest but devoted Russian Catholic community. It is the last Russian Catholic parish in New York City, and only one of four in the entire country.

Named for a grove of fruit trees on the DeLancey estate that comprised much of this area, Orchard Street is characterized by its tenements and history as a commercial thoroughfare, hosting many prosperous shops and street vendors. The five-story pre-law tenement at number 97 was purchased by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in 1988 to interpret the history of immigration to the area. It is estimated that roughly 7,500 people from 25 countries resided in the building until it was sealed due to non-compliance with City housing codes in 1935. The six-story, red brick, Queen-Anne-style Old Law tenement at number 14-16 features a fanciful cornice and terra-cotta Stars of David, a feature shared by its sister building at number 47. 97 Orchard is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Looking north on the Bowery, under the Third Avenue Line, April 24, 1936.

215 Bowery Charles Kinkel 1872 This limestone-faced building was built for the New Amsterdam Savings Bank in 1872, which failed by 1876. It then became Germania Bank, reflective of the large German population near this area at the end of the 19th century. This building was constructed on an irregularly narrow lot, and the heavy stonework and quoins enhance its narrow façade.

"The Bowery, north from Rivington Street, showing a bread line extending to the Salvation Army Memorial Hotel No. 223 -225 Bowery, ca. 1932." The Salvation Army Memorial Hotel, the final destination for the men waiting on this bread line, moved into the 10-story building, known as Booth House in 1913. From this location they provided a variety of service to the changing lower Manhattan populations over the 101 years they occupied the building. For the first decade and half the Army location largely served the vagrant population that lived and passed through the Bowery, but as the Great Depression took hold, the Army realized they could no longer function only by handing out meal tickets. The needy population was growing exponentially to include out of work men from common laborers to white collar workers. Knowing that food was one of the most important needs, by 1931 the Army location at Bowery started collecting unserved food from local restaurants to serve in a makeshift dining hall in the basement. This photograph depicts the lines for that service.

The Lower East Side, traditionally an immigrant, working-class neighborhood with a rich Jewish history, has in recent years experienced rapid gentrification. Despite A LOT of changes, many of the neighborhood's diverse local landmarks have survived into the 21st century.

A group of Hasidic rabbis were among those who turned out to greet the President for the dedication of Sara Delano Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.

New York City has a small collection of 18th-century buildings, and these two survivors are part of it. They retain Federal features such as their steeply pitched roofs, twin pedimented dormers, Flemish bond, and No. 134 possesses an end chimney. These buildings also share an early wrought-iron fire escape. Sculptor Eva Hesse (1936– 1970\) had a studio in the half story of No. 134.

ca. 1890 Construction on the six tenements that would become known as the Mott Street Barracks began in the 1850s. Begun by stonemason Martin Walsh, a recent Irish immigrant, the tenements would become one of the most notorious in the city. Each floor had two small apartments. These apartments, in turn, were made up of three rooms, with only one window. Moreover, these windows were overshadowed in all the back apartments by the construction of a second set of structures, directly behind the street-facing tenements. (the photo depicts the narrow alley between the two.) The dark, cramped corridors and apartments of the Mott Street Barracks soon became home to a host of pests, rodents, and disease. The lodgings didn't have plumbing so the waste and outhouses were emptied in the cellar. Filth and refuse crowded the entrances and ground. The child mortality rate at Mott Street was so high that Riis claimed that one in three children died. Moreover, the barracks were no stranger to violent crime. Robberies were fairly common and a series of murders and gang fights secured Mott Street's notoriety beyond its filthy conditions. Following a series of increasingly irate complaints by the health department, Mott Street's owner repainted the tenements and added a new cornice, but the changes were skin deep. Otherwise, the buildings remained the same. In 1896, the Health Department seized the buildings, offering one dollar in compensation. Initially razing the back buildings, it soon became clear that there was no improving the barracks, and the entirety of the tenements was demolished.

The movie theatre at 141 East Houston Street that closed in early 2018 after a run of 17 years of showing independent and foreign films, actually has a history that dates back to the 19th century. The original building was constructed sometime in the first half of the 19th century (likely the late 1830s) and was occupied for many decades by German Evangelical Mission Church (though it had been built for a Dutch Reformed Church). In the early 1900s, it was converted into the Houston Athletic Club, a prize fight club. In 1909 it became the Houston Hippodrome, which presented moving pictures and Yiddish vaudeville shows. Renovated in 1916-1917, the venue reopened as a motion picture house called the Sunshine Theatre. That venue survived until 1945. Purchased by a local hardware salesman, the theatre was used as a warehouse until 1994 when it was sold again. In 1998 the art house film company Landmark partnered with the building's leaseholder. (He had originally wanted to open a concert venue but the liquor license had been rejected.) The building underwent a massive three-year, $12 million renovation. The new theatre opened on December 21, 2001. While the theatre once again became a beloved neighborhood landmark and was doing well financially, they were beholden to the building's owners. Sold for $31.5 million in 2017, the 25-year lease (begun in 1994) was coming up for renewal and the theatre could not consider the market rate rent for the space. Sadly and much to the disappointment of neighbors and movie lovers, the theatre went dark once again. The building is to be demolished and replaced by a nine-story office building.

26 Second Avenue Building Date : 1850-59 Original Use : Residential/Commercial Original Owner : Frederick Johnson Original Architect : Unknown Description & Building Alterations Three buildings currently exist on this lot, with one in the front and two in the rear. The current building in the front part of the lot is a six-story tenement, with its sixth floor added between 1889 and 1906. The two rear buildings each have five stories. The first building on this lot was built between 1841 and 1843. By 1846, a stable was also present on the lot and remained until 1850, when it was replaced by a second house built between 1850 and 1852. Two five-story tenements existed after 1859 in the front and rear of the lot, likely altered from the two three-story houses on site before 1859. Two stores have occupied the first floor of the front building since at least 1906. The building’s facade retains the historic cornice and two pilasters framing the entrance doorway in addition to two pilasters, one on each side of the storefront. The storefront has been altered with pull-down security gates. The window lintels have also been removed. In 1947, the storefront was converted into a launderette. Since then, it has been converted back into two stores.

Berenice Abbott's 1937 photograph of Centre Market Place Frank Lava's storefront, February 4, 1937. This Berenice Abbott photograph shows the gun-shaped sign of a gunsmith storefront which had been in business since 1850. A number of gun shops once lined Centre Market Place, and were the appropriate neighbors of the massive Police Headquarters housed across the street in the grand Beaux-Arts building at 240 Centre Street. Lava was the third generation owner of a gunsmith shop established in 1850; he continued to manage the shop into the 1960s.

Flower and garment shops, Orchard Street, ca. 1975.

Fourteenth Ward Industrial School of the Children’s Aid Society (Astor Memorial Building) ARCHITECT: Vaux & Radford DATE: 1888-89 STYLE: Victorian Gothic The Fourteenth Ward Industrial School, often referred to as the Astor Memorial School is an example of Victorian Gothic architecture, it was designed by the architectural firm of Vaux & Radford. The building was donated by John Jacob Astor as a memorial to his wife, a longtime supporter of the activities of the Children’s Aid Society, and that it remains a worthy symbol of the work of the Children’s Aid Society.

Walking through the neighborhood now often referred to as NoLita (north of Little Italy), one can’t help but be struck by a four-story building on Mott Street which seems much more impressive than its modest height would imply. The stepped roof and carved foliate detail above and below the windows give the impression of a grand private residence, or at least the headquarters of some noble institution. But as most New Yorkers know, this is an old immigrant quarter, and the carving above the entrance which says “Fourteenth Ward Industrial School” gives away the building’s much less ostentatious origins. This story is adapted from a Village Preservation blog, which can be viewed here.

The Lower East Side was not a wealthy neighborhood in the late 19th century, and it was common for Jewish congregations to pray in converted spaces rather than pay to build something to their specifications. Built as a church in 1860, this building became home to the Orthodox German-Jewish congregation Shaaray Hashomayim (“Gates of the Heavens”) in 1864. It was common for congregations like this to frequently move locations, finding nicer (or cheaper, depending on their needs) accommodations in other buildings. So Gates of the Heavens left this building in 1889 and it reverted to use as a church again. It became a synagogue once again in 1902 - this time as home to the unrelated congregation with a similar name, Shaaray Shomayim (also meaning Gates of Heaven). They remained in the building for over 100 years. Its design was described as “eclectic Byzantine” and it was the largest in the area, holding 1800 worshipers. Sound reverberated spectacularly in this space and it became known as the “Cantor’s Carnegie Hall”, hosting such famous Chazzans as Yossele Rosenblatt, Moshe Koussevitzky, Zavel Kwartin, Moishe Oysher, Jan Pearce and Richard Tucker. Red Buttons sang in the choir and Edward G. Robinson had his Bar Mitzvah there. Like most synagogues in the area, congregation numbers slowly dwindled through the 20th century until just a handful of congregants remained by the 2000s. The congregation persevered only through the efforts of Rabbi Yaakov Spiegel, who led the synagogue from 1981-2001; in June 2003, that swath of Rivington was named “Rabbi Yaakov Spiegel Way” in his honor. But by December 2005, the building had sustained too much damage to be safe and services were moved to a nearby home. In January 2006, the synagogue’s roof collapsed, and the building was demolished two months later.

New York Dispensary, ca. 1915. The New York Dispensary, a philanthropic institution providing medical care for poor New Yorkers, built a new facility on Spring Street in 1912, on the site of a former coal yard. The dispensary, founded in 1790, had been displaced from locations further downtown twice in the previous four years: first, by the 1908 construction of the Centre Street Loop of the BMT Nassau Street Line (today’s J/Z subway); then for the expansion of courthouse facilities at Worth Street.

My Archive Spring 2019 "Tourist and locals both out for a summer day to get some Italian food. So many smells, so many choices, so many ornaments, and menus and cannoli. haha! It's one of my fav photos." —Justin Snyder

Shops on Orchard Street, ca. 1975.

The Grand Theatre (also referred to simply as “The Grand”) opened in 1903 at 255-257 Grand Street, at the corner of Grand and Chrystie Streets. With its opening, The Grand became “the first theatre in America built for the express purpose of housing Yiddish productions.” An article published in The New York Times the week of the theatre’s opening entitled “A New Jewish Theatre,” remarks that it is “the first theatre in New York ever erected expressly and exclusively for foreign-speaking Jewish patronage of the better class.” The article then goes on to describe the theatre’s architecture, designed by Victor Hugo Koehler, proclaiming that it is a “handsome white stone structure – of the Renaissance style now prevailing at playhouses.” The Grand is also notable because it was the first theatre to be owned, run, and managed by the actors themselves. Judging by the mention of the “better class” in the Times article, we can imagine that this theatre, just a stone’s throw from the Eldridge Street Synagogue, would have catered solely to our historic congregations wealthy members. Early congregation leaders like banker Sender Jarmulowsky and kosher butcher Isaac Gellis would likely have attended shows here. But the congregants who could only afford the “cheap seats” at Eldridge Street may not have been welcome at The Grand. The Grand remained open for 20 years, but not exclusively as a Yiddish theatre. By 1909 it was leased to the Bedford Theatrical Company, and by 1913 it was playing Marcus Loew attractions (moving pictures). The theater closed in 1923, and after sitting vacant for several years, the entire structure was demolished in 1930. The theater was demolished in the wake of extensive neighborhood improvements on the Lower East Side, which included widening both Chrystie and Forsyth Street. As these streets were widened, all of the buildings on one side of the street were demolished, including The Grand. The demolished buildings once sat on the edge of what is now Sara Delano Roosevelt Park.

You would never guess that the building pictured at 190 Bowery is now a single-family residence. The former Germania Bank building was built in 1898-1899 by Robert Maynicke for its namesake, which served the middle class German residents who populated the area along and to the east of the Bowery, north of Division Street. The building functioned as a bank until the mid-1960s, when photographer Jay Maisel purchased it for $102,000. Maisel moved into the six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square foot building and continues to live there today with his wife and daughter, leading Wendy Goodman of New York magazine to declare 190 Bowery “maybe the greatest real-estate coup of all time.”

Numerous health facilities were established in New York City following the outbreak of HIV and AIDS cases in the 1980s. From 1993 to 1994, this building was converted to Rivington House, a VillageCare-operated nursing home for people living with AIDS. The architecture firms of Perkins & Will and Davis, Brody & Associates were responsible for the conversion. Rivington House opened in 1995 as the largest residential healthcare facility for AIDS patients in New York City and, perhaps, the nation. Equipped with 219 beds and an outpatient treatment center, it was originally considered an end-of-life nursing home for most of its patients; length of stay was 12 to 15 days and the death rate stood at nearly 50%. By 1997, new drug therapies were prolonging the lives of many people living with AIDS and, as a result, the death rate at Rivington House declined by 20% and the length of stay increased to 120 days.

Second Avenue El over the western roadway of Allen Street, July 20, 1929.

The Bowery is Manhattan's oldest street, predating European settlement.  It was the widest road on the island for a time, which made it a natural thoroughfare for manufacturing, industry and other development. By 1813, it was so well established within the growing city that it was made official, and the name “Bowery” was forever marked in the record books.

The Bowery Savings Bank, 130 Bowery,1975. Now a part of Capital One Bank, the Bowery Savings Bank was chartered in 1834. The building at 130 Bowery was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in a Roman classical style and was constructed between 1893-1895. The classical facade of this early bank building set the style for banking institutions in New York City.

Rivington Street, between Allen and Orchard Streets, January 17, 1928. Orchard Street’s informal pushcart market spilled onto neighboring blocks. The cart in the foreground, “Isidore’s Hot Frankfurters,” advertises “a nickel meal,” of three frankfurters, “served tastefully.”

17 First Avenue Building Date : 1841-43 Original Use : Residential Original Owner : Cornelius Dubois Original Architect : Unknown Description & Building Alterations This four-story brick building, with commercial space on the first level, was constructed together with lots 36 and 38 in 1841-43. In 1872, all three buildings were raised from three stories to four stories. This building was occupied by stores on the ground floor and by one family per each of the upper floors. In 1907, the building was altered by Otto Reissman. The Italianate facade features simple lintels and sills, in addition to a bracketed and modillioned cornice, which seems to be identical to both adjacent buildings’ facades. There is also a trace of the ground floor cornice.

Manhattan Boot Black Supply, 254 Broome Street. The street is named after John Broome, an early city alderman and lieutenant governor of New York from 1804-1810.

My Archive Summer 2019 “247 Grand Street in Manhattan. On the left Vincenzo Trimarco and on the right Giovanni "Charlie" Trimarco (the Trimarco Bros.). Their father Domenico Trimarco came from Castelluccio Cosentino, Salerno, Italy to New York in the late1870s and worked his way from a simple tailor out of an apartment to an eventual store owner before passing away in 1906. His sons (brothers to my great-great-grandmother Nicoletta Felitti of East Harlem) became very wealthy businessmen through the family clothing business and were expert tailors themselves. They were well known for suits and wedding dresses. The original Lord and Taylor was a few buildings away, and the story has it that Lord and Taylor approached the Trimarco Bros. with a proposal to partner together, but the Domenico Trimarco said no, not wanting to move back uptown to where the new Lord and Taylor would be.” —Conor Welch

313-315 Bowery | Block : 457 | Lot #5 Building Date : 1878/1934 alt. Original Use : Residential & Commercial Original Owner : Jacob Weeks (1878); Unknown (1934) Original Architect : J. Correja (1878); Scacchetti & Siegel (1934) Description & Building Alterations This building was originally constructed as two Old Law tenements in 1878. The 1934 architects Scacchetti & Siegel demolished the top two floors of each tenement and combined the buildings by removing the interior walls to create a four-story, four-bay lodging house with a yellow brick Art Deco facade that still exists today. The building was used as the infamous 20th Century flophouse known as the Palace Bar & Hotel, which lodged 500 indigent men. In 1969 Hilly Kristal, manager of the Village Vanguard jazz club, opened a club here called Hilly’s on the Bowery. In 1973, he changed the name to the famous rock club CBGB – “Country, Blue Grass, and Blues” – which remained until 2006. This site launched the careers of The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, and many others. In 2013, the former location of CBGB was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bowery Historic District. The other half of the building, No. 313, housed Kristal, a record store, art gallery, second performance space, and store called CBGB Fashions. After closing, No. 315 became a John Varvatos boutique and No. 313 became Morrison Hotel, a music photography gallery.

The Triboro Barber School, 264 Bowery, ca. 1925.

This architectural drawing shows plans for a grand public bath house on Allen Street. The building, built in 1905, operated as a bath house until 1975, when once again the changing demographics of the neighborhood no longer necessitated a public bath house. But at the time, a new generation of Lower East Sider was arriving, and they repurposed this building for their own needs. Since 1975, the old bath houses are home to The Church of Grace to Fujianese, a Christian Chinese congregation. The church added a cross and the name of their congregation, in two languages, to the facade, but scalloped shells etched in the stone facade remain as reminders of the building’s original use.

The Bowery north from Grand Street, 1903.

Germania Bank Building ARCHITECT: Robert Maynicke DATE: 1898-99 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The former Germania Bank building is a Beaux-Arts style structure prominently located on the northwest corner of the Bowery and Spring Street. Built-in 1898-99 to the designs of architect Robert Maynicke, it was the third home of the Germania Bank, which was established in 1869 by a group of local businessmen of German extraction. By 1840, more than 24,000 German immigrants and their descendants were living in New York City. Their numbers increased dramatically over the next two decades. The granite and brick building features rusticated stonework, a chamfered corner with an arched entry flanked by Tuscan columns, and multi-story pilasters. The ground floor features large arched openings with voussoirs surmounted a massive denticulated cornice. A similar cornice terminates the fifth story.

14th Ward Industrial School, ca. 1977. The 14th Ward Industrial School was constructed in 1888 to honor the memory and philanthropic work of Mrs. Charlotte Astor by her husband, John Jacob Astor. Long supporters of the Children’s Aid Society, this new school was to teach the impoverished children of this Italian immigrant enclave skills they would need to make their way as urban dwellers and workers. J.J. Astor commissioned Calvert Vaux to design the school. While the red brick, terra cotta, and buttresses denote a Victorian Gothic structure, Vaux added a stepped Dutch gable to top his creation. Today the former school is cooperative apartments.

One of the most important ways we can try to better understand a historical period is to examine primary documents and sources – first-hand records – from that time. Newspaper articles, government reports and letters are all important primary sources, but photographs are among the most fun to examine. They provide visual evidence of a time period or event that can expand your historical understanding – and help you really picture what life was like back then. Every week, we’ll share with you a photograph of real people or a real scene from New York in the early 1900s. Your job? Put on your Young Historian glasses and examine it. What do you see? What do you think it shows you about the people in the picture, the place where they are, and the time period? What are the clues in the picture that tell you something? You’ll be amazed by what you can discover when you look closely!

56 East 1st Street Building Date : 2005 Original Use : Residential Original Owner : Eric Anderson Original Architect : Craig Tooman Description & Building Alterations A six-story brick new law tenement dating to 1907 once existed on this lot. Featuring brick and stone ornamentation and a galvanized iron cornice, the building was originally occupied by 17 families and a store. The tenement was demolished in 1957 by the W.P.A. Labor Demolition Project. The existing four-story residential building serves as a two-family home. It was erected in 2005 in a modern style. The current facade consists of concrete and iron panels, in addition to tall bay windows on each floor.

The Centre Street Loop got its start in 1908 with the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's first Manhattan subway track: the terminal at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. The Loop was the first of two BMT Brooklyn Loops designed to connect various Brooklyn Subway lines without requiring new and inefficient terminals in lower Manhattan. Under its original design, the Loop would connect the tracks of Broadway Elevated coming over the Williamsburg (now the BMT Jamaica Line) with Brooklyn Bridge trains originating in Brooklyn. The loop was never completed as planned and was instead incorporated into the BMT Nassau Street Line. These photos document the construction of the tracks that today carry the J and Z trains, and capture glimpses of Manhattan's Civic Center before the completion of the Municipal Building and other prominent structures around Foley Square and City Hall Park.

Built was working class residences, the two Federal style homes at 298 and 300 Grand Street were completed in the late 1820s or 1830s. Each is two and a half stories, with a single dormer gracing the pitched roof. With the boom in Manhattan's population in the first half of the 19th century, the ground floors were likely converted early into commercial spaces. Today, the pair survives (though perhaps just barely).

My Archive Spring 2019

Broome Street, north side, west of Chrystie Street to the Bowery. July 18, 1929. At left is No. 330 Broome, a brick structure with a peaked roof. In the late 1970s, the performance artist Arleen Schloss ran A's, a performance space, studio, and gathering place for avant-garde artists, out of the loft at 330 Broome. In 1979, a young Jean-Michel Basquiat performed and showed work from his SAMO© series in the space.

Parade in front of 236 Elizabeth Street, ca. 1935.

65 Prince Street, ca. 1897. The twin Federal-style houses built at 63 and 65 Prince Street were constructed by Samuel L. Gouverneur in 1825 and 1826. Gouverneur, by marriage to Maria Hester Monroe was the son-in-law and nephew of former President James Monroe. Despite James Monroe’s impressive military and political career—two terms as President, Minister to France and to England, Envoy to Spain, Secretary of State, and author of the Monroe Doctrine— he was overwhelmed with financial difficulties following his departure from office. Monroe came to live in the corner house in 1830, where he died on the Fourth of July just one year later. Following Monroe's death in 1831, the house changed owners many times. Eventually, John H. Contoit purchased the home for $32,500 in 1873, at a time when the neighborhood had succumbed to commerce. As wealthy families moved northwards, many mansions and homes in Lower Manhattan, including this one, were taken over by business. Contoit, who was the proprietor of the pleasure garden known both as the New York Garden and Contoit’s Garden, converted the house into a small factory and the home of G. Rosenberg's Vienna and Hungarian Café and Restaurant. The advertisement for the play, The Last Stroke, on the side wall depicts the decline of this house in which a former present ended his days. In 1905, the New York Times admitted: “The old Colonial house, 63 Prince Street, where Monroe died, is falling to decay." Despite restoration and preservation efforts, the house was sold on November 12, 1919, to an unknown speculator.

This synagogue at 58-60 Rivington Street was designed by architect Emery Roth and was dedicated in August 1904. It was built in the Moorish Revival style for Roumanian Congregation Adath Jeshurun of Jassy Synagogue and financed by the Universal Building and Construction Company, which included some members of the nearby Eldridge Street Synagogue. Unfortunately, just two years after opening the congregation fell on hard times and they were forced to vacate the building. In 1908, the new Polish Orthodox congregation Erste Warshauer (First Warsaw) moved in. This congregation attracted some big names for their services, including George and Ira Gershwin, Senator Jacob Javits, Samuel Goldwyn and George Burns. Like so many other Lower East Side synagogues, it was abandoned in 1974. But that wasn’t the end of its life. Photographer Hale Gurland purchased the building in 1979, built a penthouse on the roof and turned the building into apartments for artists. The facade of the building has remained true to its historic life as a place of worship, except for one artistic detail - Gurland installed a stylized camera shutter where the historic rose window once was.

View of Elm Street (Lafayette), looking uptown toward Houston Street with the Puck Building at right, August 18, 1900.

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, door detail, ca. 1975.

Norman Mailer in front of 90 Delancey Street, 1969. Writer and actor Norman Mailer ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic Party primary for Mayor of New York City in 1969. At the suggestion of Gloria Steinem and others, and with journalist Jimmy Breslin as an ally, running for City Council President, he campaigned largely on a platform of New York City secession. He advocated for the creation of a 51st state. His ideas for the city also included a monorail, a ban on private cars in Manhattan, and the self determination of individual neighborhoods to enact their own governance. Here he is on the Lower East Side speaking to the press. Mailer came in fourth in the primary with just 41,000 votes or just about 5 percent. Mayor John V. Lindsay was re-elected that November.

135 Essex Street, ca. 1978. Schmulka Bernstein’s, also known as Bernstein-on-Essex, was a kosher deli and Chinese restaurant that flourished in this spot for over three decades. Armed with the slogan, “where kashrut is king and quality reigns,” the eatery originally opened as a kosher delicatessen in 1957. Founded by Solomon Bernstein, the restaurant was a family-run operation that began introducing Cantonese-style dishes to the menu in 1959. Cooking with veal, beef, and chicken livers instead of pork, the Bernsteins infused the cuisine of two cultures in a way that had never been done before. As boasted on the restaurant’s menu, Schmulka Bernstein was the “originator” of kosher Chinese foods in New York City. The menu featured dishes like Lo Mein Bernstein, cooked with chicken livers, alongside Eastern European delicacies. Waiters also wore traditional tasseled Chinese caps instead of yarmulkes. In the early 1990s, the owners sold the family business. While it remained in operation for a number of years, like many other beloved Jewish delicatessens on the Lower East Side, Schmulka Bernstein’s eventually closed down. The original building has since been demolished and replaced with a luxury condominium development.

6-8 Delancey Street, date unknown (post 1929). Built on the foundation of a former theatre, the building at no. 6 Delancey Street was constructed in 1928 as a commercial space. But the financial crash of the following year prevented any retailers from succeeding in the space initially. Though a number of sources claim that Tree Mark, an affordable shoe store, did not move into the building until after the Second World War, there is evidence (a newspaper advertisement) of the store occupying the building as early as 1934. The shoe store lasted three decades in that space before closing. In 1997 the building was taken over by the Bowery Ballroom, a well-known music venue.

Odd Fellows Hall, ca. 1975. Built in 1849, the large Italiantate brownstone structure, with a steep double story mansard roof, was constructed as the grand lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization. Designed by architects Trench & Snook, the original structure was only five stories tall, with a traditional cornice and a broad dome above. According to a 1862 guidebook, ''Miller's New York as It Is,'' the building ''contains a series of highly ornamented lodge rooms, richly furnished in the different styles of architecture; some Egyptian, Grecian, Elizabethan, etc.'' Originally the lodge housed 79 subordinate lodges and commercial spaces on the ground floor. For organizations and clubs that could afford to build their own buildings, the cost was often defrayed some by collecting rent from purpose built retail spaces. The Odd Fellows sold the building in 1881 and the new owner, a printer, had the structure drastically altered to create lofts. The highly decorated interiors were gutted and the cornice was removed and replaced with the steep mansard. The loft spaced were occupied by manufacturing for more than a century. In the 1980s and 1990s, most of the lofts were occupied by garment factories. Despite the vast changes to the surrounding neighborhood, the building has changed very little since its massive renovation in 1881. Today it is a building of residential condominiums.

The Forsyth Street Synagogue of the Congregation Poel Zedek Anshe Illiya, 1930.

“Young men in front of 147 Forsyth St. Neighborhood Guild Library in hall bedroom over front door, parent of Rivington St. Branch.” The University Settlement Society of New York, was founded in 1886 as The Neighborhood Guild, a settlement house on Forsyth Street. The organization provided lodging, social services, and education to new immigrants arriving in New York. Today, University Settlement continues to operate on the Lower East Side at 184 Eldridge Street (the “Rivington St. branch” referenced in the photo caption).

Construction on the BRT Centre Street Loop, with timbering supporting buildings along Kenmare Street, June 5, 1908. The wooden foot bridge at center is at Mulberry Street. Completed buildings in the background are on the eastern corners of Mott Street. The Centre Street Loop, approved in 1907 but never completed as planned, was designed to connect service from the Williamsburg and Brooklyn bridges, via Chambers Street. Today, some tracks are used by the BMT Nassau Street Line (J/Z trains).

7 Second Avenue | Block : 456 | Lot #29 Building Date : 1890 Original Use : Residential Original Owner : J. Stimmel Original Architect : F. Heineke Description & Building Alterations This Old Law tenement was built at the same time as its identical neighbor at 9 Second Avenue in 1890. No. 9 Second Avenue was demolished as part of the construction of 11 Second Avenue.

Something important to every community is safe in-person spaces to gather. In the early to mid-20th century, it was uncommon to find easily accessible spaces like these for people outside the status quo. Few spaces allowed for the creativity and experimentation that many individuals and groups alike wanted to express. Although there were many social movements throughout the years that allowed the outsiders of society to find each other and create culture, spaces that specifically catered to alt people began popping up more frequently in the 70s. Many of these spaces are gone today, however, there are still many that are up and running, along with many new places that foster community and creativity. When you’re alt, it can be easy to feel like no one around you supports or understands your ideals, fashion, and lifestyle. This is why alternative spaces are so important to maintain. Everyone deserves a place to unwind, make friends, and feel like themselves, and alt community spaces make the seemingly inaccessible easy to find.

80 Delancey Street, 1937. The street vendor here is sitting on the Allen Street median, directly across the street from the west facade of 80 Delancey Street. The plain flat brick facade remains the same, while the architecturally detailed south facade (not visible here) survives as well. The vendor is selling "Indian Nuts," which was the culturally inappropriate name for pinon, or pine nuts. These street nuts were not sold, shelled and roasted for $30 a pound such as they are today in Whole Foods, but in the shell in a wax or paper bag for 1 cent. A movie theatre staple as well as a street nut, they were once somewhat nostalgically described as, "those tiny nuts we bit open to get at a kernel that wasn't worth the work."

Built in 1890 by architect Josiah Cleveland Cody, this Romanesque Revival structure was first built as the temporary home to a missionary group attempting to proselytize to the local Jewish community. Unsurprisingly, that mission failed and the building was sold to Chevrah Poel Zedek Anschei Illia, a Jewish community of Lithuanian immigrants. In 1909 the new owners converted the ground level facade on Delancy Street side into retail spaces. The synagogue remained here until the 1960s despite long dwindling membership. Today the building is home to Templo Adventista del Septimo Dia. In early 2016 the church sought a developer to demolish the 19th-century building and erect a 12-story structure. As of 2018, nothing has come of that intention.

Former synagogue at Forsyth and Delancey Streets, now a Seventh-Day Adventist Church, ca. 1978. Built in the 1890s as the Forsyth Street Church, the congregation of immigrants from present-day Belarus and Lithuania took over the church in 1900. The building is notable for the row of ground-level retail storefronts on Delancey street, around the corner from its main entrance. In 1971, the building was sold to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Union Square.

Russ & Daughters, ca. 1980. Russ & Daughters is an ''appetizing'' store established on the Lower East Side in 1914. Appetizing stores are a New York phenomenon, a store that sold fish and dairy products, as opposed to a delicatessen, which sold pickled, cured, and smoked meats. These delineations in products observed the strict Jewish dietary laws. Opened as "Russ's Cut Rate Appetizers'' on Orchard Street , the shop was the first brick and mortar business for Polish immigrant Joel Russ. Russ had previously carried mushrooms on this shoulders to sell and later operated a pushcart. The shop expanded his offerings to include salt cured herring and salmon. In 1920, Russ moved his shop around the corner to 179 East Houston where it has remained for nearly 100 years. In 1933, Russ renamed the shop 'Russ & Daughters' (he and his wife had only three girls). The shop has been continuously run by four generations of Russ family members. Today the shop has an additional outpost on the LES and a cafe in the uptown Jewish Museum.

Trenches for the high pressure water system along East Houston Street, between Mulberry and Mott Streets; undated photo. The Houston Street elevated station of the Third Avenue El is visible in the distance. At left, in the storefront of No. 50, is the tin shop of Niklas Hupfer. A few years earlier, in January 1894, an early-morning fire broke out in the basement of the five-story tenement building. The New York Times attributed the blaze to an errant cigar butt, and each of the building's 27 residents were fortunate to escape. Sgt. John Kellaher, on watch duty at Police Headquarters around the block, was credited with quick and decisive actions helping to avert loss of life. The buildings at left, on the north side of the street, were all demolished in late 1929, ahead of construction for the IND Sixth Avenue Line's Houston—Essex segment. IND construction led to the permanent widening of the Houston Street thoroughfare.

Police Headquarters, ca. 1900. Between 1863 and 1909, this unassuming Mulberry Street building was the headquarters for the New York City Police Department. Completed in 1862, in one of the densest areas of the city and only a few blocks from the notorious Five Points area, the building had a rich and sordid history. The New York Times noted in 1909, upon the removal of the police department to its new building on Centre Street, “No other building in the city, probably, is richer in memories than 300 Mulberry Street.” After being abandoned by the NYPD the building was used for magistrate and traffic court purposes through the mid century and razed sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The building was a backdrop for any number of 19th century historic events and political players. During the draft riots in 1863, superintendent of police, John A. Kennedy, was beaten and left near death at headquarters. In 1895 a reformer, Teddy Roosevelt, was named Police Superintendent, a brief stop on his route to the White House.

Entrance to Niblo’s Garden, 1887. Proprietor William Niblo acquired the Columbia Garden “pleasure garden” — an open-air entertainment venue — during the 1820s, renaming the premises Niblo’s Garden and introducing a theater and concert venue in 1834. The Garden covered much of the block bounded by Broadway and Houston, Crosby, and Prince Streets. In 1835, Niblo’s Theater hosted P.T. Barnum’s first exhibition and would soon introduce vaudeville programming to its entertainment lineup. In 1846, the original theater was destroyed in a fire. In another first, Niblo’s hosted what is considered the first-ever musical theater production: in 1866, “The Black Crook,” a lengthy musical comedy set in Germany, debuted to widespread condemnation. Naturally, the outcry in the press led audiences to flock to Niblo’s. The theater burned again in 1872 and was rebuilt, with funding from department store entrepreneur A.T. Stewart. Niblo’s held its final performance in 1895 and was soon demolished.

104, 102, 100 and 98 Forsyth Street, ca. 1977. The pair of matching tenements at 102 and 100 Forsyth Street (left and right, respectively, at center) were built circa 1868. The facades of these five-story buildings have retained many of their original features including decorative stone lintels and pediments and the crowning bracketed metal cornices. In the last few decades of the 19th century, these buildings were the headquarters of a meat packer and dealer called Coles, Marshall, and Co. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the avant-garde and experimental filmmaker, author and activist Marjorie Keller lived in an apartment in no. 100 while attending graduate school at NYU.

100-110 Delancey Street, ca. 1978.

149 Mulberry Street House ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1811-21 STYLE: Federal Among its many important qualities, the Stephen Van Rensselaer House, at 149 Mulberry Street, is a good example of a modest early Nineteenth Century Federal style house. It has fine proportions, with its original features and excellent details well related in scale. After one hundred and fifty years, this structure continues to serve a useful purpose and in the neighborhood where it stands, it remains a quaint reminder of an earlier city.

Rivington Branch, date unknown. Designed by McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1905, the Rivington Branch still stands but is no longer occupied by the library. One of three Carnegie libraries completed by this firm in dense immigrant lower Manhattan neighborhoods, it was the first to have an open air space on the roof. The success of this feature led to the implementation in later branches. The original collection of 6500 books for the library was transferred from the adjacent University Settlement. Today the red brick and limestone building is occupied by a predominately Spanish language Evangelical religious organization.

"Bowery, west side, north from and including Prince, to and including East Houston Streets, 1934." The Federal style building seen here, with its brick facade, peaked roof, and dormers, likely dates to the early decades of the 19th century when Bowery was lined with these Federals. Though the large second story windows and dormers are no longer extant, and the Bowery facing facade is drastically altered, the bones of this original building remain, and can be seen more clearly on the Prince Street facade.

"The Bowery, east side, north from and across East 1st Street. To the left appears the Empire State and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Bldg's. across the Third Avenue elevated lines which runs on the Bowery and continues northward on Third Avenue from Cooper Square, 1938." The storefront and corner signage advertise a 10 cent shave and a 15 cent haircut.

Shops on Orchard Street. During the 20th Century, Orchard Street became one of the Lower East Side’s primary shopping streets, particularly for discount clothing promoted by “callers,” merchants advertising their shops’ wares from the sidewalks.

New York City Police Headquarters ARCHITECT: Hoppin & Koen DATE: 1905-09 STYLE: Edwardian Baroque Among its important qualities, the Former Police Headquarters Building is one of New York City’s most important examples of the Edwardian Baroque style of architecture and of Beaux-Arts principles of design. It incorporated a new, official image for the nation’s largest and most sophisticated police force.

Parade in front of 236 Elizabeth Street, ca. 1935. The flag bearers are holding the American flag and the flag of the Kingdom of Italy (originally the Sardinian flag), which was used from 1861 until 1946.

P.S. 20, Rivington Street, 1920. P.S. 20 opened in 1899 when the Lower East Side was a neighborhood of poor immigrant families living in crowded, dark and decaying tenements. In contrast, the public schools designed by C.B.J. Snyder offered a rigorous education in classrooms that maximized natural light, fresh air and ventilation. The fifth story of P.S. 20 contained a library, reading room, separate gyms for girls and boys and manual training rooms for carpentry, drafting and modeling. The rooftop playground offered a large space for a variety of open-air activities, far above the congested and dirty streets below. The red-brick school later became the Rivington House, a nursing home which provided hospice care to AIDS patients. The building was sold to a private developer in 2015, after deed restrictions were lifted, leading to public outcry and scrutiny of de Blasio administration practices.

203 Bowery, between Spring and Rivington Streets, 1932.

282-286 Grand Street, ca. 1970. The three buildings at 282, 284 and 286 Grand Street are Federal style rowhouses erected in the early 1820s. In 1864 a shocking murder occurred right in front of no. 282 (at left). A Robert Haines, painter, motivated by jealousy murdered the new domestic partner of the wife he had abandoned years earlier. Once topped with a pair of dormer windows each, by the 21st century these features had been lost. In 2017 plans were filed with the city to demolish these nearly 200-year-old structures and construct a seven-story rental building on the site. Despite considerable delays, the three buildings were finally razed in the early months of 2018.

Odd Fellows Hall ARCHITECT: Trench & Snook DATE: 1847-48 STYLE: Anglo-Italianate Built in 1847-48, it is an early and particularly fine example of the Anglo-Italianate style of architecture that architects helped introduce to New York. It is one of the few surviving institutional buildings of any style from the 1840s, an important period in the architectural history of the city. The design with its emphasis on planar surfaces accented by a rusticated base, central projections, and colossal pilasters is characteristic of the style and takes full advantage of the building’s prominent site.

180-184 Lafayette Street, ca. 1970-1985. These three classic SoHo buildings were constructed at various times, by different architects in different styles, and slightly different purposes, though they all epitomize the historic built environment of this neighborhood. No. 184 (at right) is the oldest. Designed in 1871-1872 by William Jose in an Italianate style, this five story tenement was built for and continues to be used for residential purposes on the upper floors. The two buildings at left are Queen Anne style loft buildings. No. 180 (left) was designed by Buchman & Deisler in 1891-1893, while no. 182 (center) was built in 1890-1891 by Thom & Wilson. These buildings signaled a shift in the area from SoHo's early history as an entertainment center, to its 20th century life as a manufacturing and industrial hub.

"138-142 Bowery, south of the S.W. corner of Broome Street, 1932." The building at 140 Bowery (with the Callahan the Hatter sign) was a Federal style house built as early as 1808. The building was likely, exclusively, a home until 1825 when a dry goods store moved into the ground floor space. That store was followed by a jeweler and a hat and artificial flower shop. In 1868, the retail space was taken over by the Callahan the Hatter store, which would remain in place for more than 60 years. John Callahan, the Irish immigrant who established the store, had a sharp marketing sense and big plans. Callahan, at one point, had 700 advertising signs around the city, and in late 1870s expanded the store into the second floor residential area. According to the notes on this photograph, Callahan's was popular among "many of the beaux and dandies of the 'Gay Nineties." The building survived into the 2010s when in 2011 it was being considered for landmark status. At that point the owner removed the twin dormers and covered them with a black asphalt material. In 2014 the three buildings at Nos. 136 through 140 Bowery were sold for $45 million. They were demolished in the spring of 2016.

"Bowery, east side, north from and including East 2nd Street, 1934." The Arcade Hotel, seen here at 317 Bowery was operating as a lodging house as early as 189, though likely earlier. It would function as a low end hotel through the early decades of the 20th century, when the Bowery was home to a large transient population drawn to the area by the prospect of affordable lodging. Today the building continues to act as overnight lodging as the home of the Bowery Residents’ Committee. In the far distance of this 1934 photograph, the hazy outline of the 1930 Empire State Building is visible. Despite the vertical growth of the area north of the Bowery in the ensuing decades, the view of the Empire State Building is still possible from this location.

Puck Building ARCHITECT: Albert Wagner; Herman Wagner DATE: 1885-99 STYLE: Romanesque Revival The Puck Building, originally the home of Puck magazine, is one of the great surviving buildings from New York’s old publishing and printing district. The red-brick round-arched structure occupies the entire block bounded by East Houston, Lafayette, Mulberry and Jersey Streets, and has been one of the most prominent architectural presences in the area since its construction one hundred years ago. The style is an adaptation of the Romanesque Revival, which had reached great popularity in the 1880s.

By the early 20th century, as the Lower East Side grew, Second Avenue became a bustling thoroughfare, its rowhouse architecture either demolished or converted in favor of buildings hosting a mix of uses. Examples of its building types include: numbers 107 and 72, fanciful, terra-cotta-clad commercial buildings constructed in the late 1920s; number 57, a nine-story New Law tenement that straddled the line between tenement and apartment building; number 43, the avenue’s first office building; and number 32, originally a City courthouse that was converted into the Anthology Film Archives in 1979. In the early 20th century, Second Avenue became known as the “Yiddish Rialto.” In addition to the Jaffe Theater (site # 1), other significant sites include number 66, the Yiddish Public Theater that later served briefly as CBGB’s Second Avenue Theater, and 66 East 4th Street, the New York Turn Verein (German athletic and social club), where America’s first Yiddish-language theater performance is said to have taken place in 1882. Second Avenue between East 7th Street and East 2nd Street is located within the East Village/ Lower East Side Historic District boundaries.

Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1825-26 STYLE: Federal This late Federal style institutional building was a popular type in the post-Revolutionary period. This three-story brick structure, with attic and low basement, retains a great deal of its original character. Formal in design, severely stark in appearance, the plain exterior is enhanced by a centrally located arched doorway, of great architectural beauty. This is one of the few complete late Federal period doorways in the City.

East Houston Street, west from First Avenue; June 23, 1929. The nearest building at left, on the south side of East Houston, is No. 161. Its neighbor to the east, No. 163-165, had recently been razed as part of the project to widen Allen Street in order to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. The widening project claimed dozens of tenement buildings, mostly on the east side of Allen Street. In the foreground is a pillar of the Second Avenue El trestle. At right, signs tout "AUCTION PRICES" for a "building coming down sale." The building, No. 1-3 First Avenue, was razed for another set of civic projects: the widening of Houston, and the Construction of the Houston—Essex segment of the new IND Sixth Avenue subway.

On June 5th, 1870 Jacob Riis arrived in New York with 40$ and a revolver. Riis was one of the millions of immigrants arriving on the shores of the United States at the end of the 19th century. Seeking a better life, the immigrants were packed into the tenements and slums of New York. In the 1880s, the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place in the world. Riis's documentation of the inhabitants of these neighborhoods would make him famous and drive a reformist movement.

Bowery Savings Bank Interior ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White; Stanford White DATE: 1893-95 STYLE: Roman Revival The interior of the Bowery Savings Bank is an early example of the Roman Revival style which was to become standard for savings bank buildings and was intended to express both simplicity and grandeur. The skylit, eighty-foot square, steel-framed banking room has details that closely follow Roman prototypes and it compares in scale to the grandest buildings of ancient Rome. The banking room is a prime example of a type which evolved in the second half of the nineteenth century characterized by a symmetrical arrangement and a prominent, axially-placed freestanding bank vault in a large centralized space organized with a peninsular layout of the tellers’ area to accommodate male and female depositors. In response to contemporary sanitary concerns, the interior was designed with durable, easily cleaned, surfaces and the building’s form was exploited to provide effective natural ventilation.

Though Broadway has become synonymous with theater in New York, the Lower East Side has a rich tradition of theatrical productions. To explore this, let's take a look at two of these theaters on the Lower East Side, The Grand Theatre and the Loews Canal Theatre. Both of these theatres are closed today, however, after their final curtain their fates have been entirely disparate.

Germania Bank, ca. 1905. Robert Maynicke’s Renaissance Revival building, completed in 1899, was the third location of the Germania Bank, which was founded by a group of German-American businessmen in 1869.

38 East 1st Street Building Date : 1886 Original Use : Institutional Original Owner : City of New York Board of Education Original Architect : David I. Stagg Description & Building Alterations Primary School No. 79 was constructed on this lot prior to 1886. After construction, the fourth story attic was raised so that the building would accommodate five stories. By 1944, the building was converted into manufacturing and storage space. By 1997, most of the building was converted to residential use, though the ground floor was occupied by a restaurant. The former Public School 79 at 38 East 1st Street is called out in the East Village/Lower East Side Rezoning Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and described as “designed by David I. Stagg, the Superintendent of Public School Buildings. The four-story brick building with Italianate and Gothic elements is notable for its terra-cotta and stone ornamentation. It is also a rare example of High Victorian Gothic school design in Manhattan. It has been converted into apartments and has several modern roof additions.” The modern roof additions include a recently added glass pyramid set back from the roof line. The building was converted to co-op apartments in 1994.

6 Centre Market Place ca. 1937 The shop on the small alley of Centre Market Place had belonged to gunsmiths since the 1850s. Its oversized shop sign was an age-old form of European advertising, originally devised for illiterate patrons and still useful on the multi-lingual Lower East Side. The ornate French Baroque police headquarters was built across the street in 1909 for the then-staggering cost of $1.5 million, and stood as a potent symbol of the rule of law. One of Abbott’s photographs of the shop offers a straightforward description of the storefront, similar to Atget’s Parisian views. A second photograph, with the camera pointed up from beneath the sign, transforms the gun from a symbol of a craftsman’s trade into a surrealist found object or a political joke. The shop remains a gunsmith, although the sign is gone. In the 1970s, a new police headquarters was built near the Municipal Building. The old headquarters is now a landmarked luxury condominium called The Police Building, home to artists and celebrities.

Cobblestone removal on Mott Street, between Prince and Houston Streets at an unknown date.

By the late-19th and early-20th century, Jewish immigrants to the United States were making big waves in the entertainment industries. Lower Second Avenue in Manhattan was the Broadway of Yiddish theater. Plays, musicals, operettas, avant-garde experimental pieces–all in Yiddish–found a home in a wide range of literary art theaters, political workers theaters, musical companies and more. Some Jewish theater stars crossed over to English-speaking Broadway and Hollywood, including Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson and Molly Picon. Jewish artists were making in-roads in other arenas, too, especially in the burgeoning animation industry. As always, The Forward was quick to identify new trends and publish articles celebrating and explaining them to their immigrant audience. Many of the performers that appeared in the newspaper were familiar and even mispokhe (family) to Forward readers who followed them as they crossed over into mainstream English language entertainment.

View north from the northeast corner of Prince and Elm (now Lafayette) Streets, January 4, 1901.

70 East 1st Street Building Date : 1878 Original Use : Residential/Commercial Original Owner : Louis Minzesheimer Original Architect : Unknown Description & Building Alterations This five-story brick tenement building, along with the building on lot 39, appears to have been built in a neo-Grec, Italianate Revival style. A building existed on the combined lots 39 & 40 prior to 1837, and another building was added to the lot in 1863, when the site was owned by George Neander. The buildings were likely a tenement and a store. Tax records indicate that since 1878 there has been only one building on the lot. Originally three stories, it was raised to five stories in 1879. The building features arched window lintels, but the sills have been removed. A ground floor cornice may have also been removed, though the denticulated, modillioned projecting roof cornice remains. There are also fluted pilasters flanking the entrance.

Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, 137 East Houston Street, ca. 1972. A fixture of the Jewish Lower East Side, Yonah Schimmel has been serving knishes here on Houston Street since 1890. Originally a pushcart business, Schimmel, a Romanian immigrant, opened a brick and mortar shop on the north side of Houston in the 1890s as his business flourished. In 1910 the knish shop moved into its current location at no. 137. After more than 120 years, the business is still family-owned and run. Today the shop is owned by Alex Wolfman, Yonah's great nephew. Much like a Nathan's Famous hot dog, someone once said that, "No New York politician in the last 50 years has been elected to office without having at least one photograph showing him on the Lower East Side with a knish in his face."

National Theatre ca. 1959 Founded as a Yiddish theater in 1912, the National Theatre was one of famed theater architect Thomas Lamb's prolific career. Seating almost 2,000 people, the National Theatre prospered for a number of years until the depression and general decline forced its closure. Like many theaters in New York, it was converted into two different cinemas in 1951. However, this didn't last long and, in 1959, the National Theater was fully demolished.

174-178 Grand Street, ca. 1978.

In 1853, young Samuel L. Clemens wrote his mother in Missouri: "Well, I was out of work in St. Louis, and didn't fancy loafing in such a dry place, where there is no pleasure to be seen without paying well for it, and so I thought I might as well go to New York." It was the first time the future Mark Twain would visit, but it wouldn't be the last. New-York Historical's 2019 exhibition 'Mark Twain and the Holy Land' took a deep dive into a pivotal moment in Twain's career: the five-month cruise to Europe and the Holy Land that would inspire his bestselling travelogue 'The Innocents Abroad.' Like many good journeys, it started in New York. Check out some NYC sites that have a Twain connection.

“Delancey St. - Williamsburg Bridge. \[Delancey Street Looking East from Near Ludlow St.]” Dated 1905, this photo shows the Delancey Street approach to the Williamsburg Bridge under construction. The carriageway, streetcar tracks, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit subway tracks (also under construction) are visible at the foot of the bridge, though the span itself is barely visible through the East River haze.

University Settlement House, 184 Eldridge Street, ca. 1900. Stanton Coit and Charles Bunstein Stover established the University Settlement in 1886, in a tenement on Forsyth Street. Originally known as the Neighborhood Guild, since its founding, the institution has provided social services and education for the waves of immigrants who settled on the Lower East Side. President Franklin D. Roosevelt — who, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, spoke at the 1898 dedication of the Settlement's present Eldridge Street building — once described the University Settlement as "a landmark in the social history of the nation."

East 1st Street, 1937. The photographer, Berenice Abbott, noted that these building are "Old Law Tenements." These were building constructed after the passage of the Tenement House Act of 1879, but before 1901, when the "New Law" legislation passed. The most important feature of the 1879 law was the requirement that any habitable room have cross ventilation. The builders of these structures complied by having many of the windows opening to air shafts between the buildings. These windows were called "tuberculous windows" as the aim was to combat (or at least reduce the frequency of) the spread of disease in these densely crowded buildings. Unfortunately this style of tenement was generally unsuccessful. Residents tossed garbage, dirty water, and waste into the shafts and the shafts caused fire to spread between buildings faster. The 1901 law mandated an exterior-facing windows in each room of new residences as well as bathroom facilities in each unit. The Old Law Tenements had symmetrical floor plans and tended towards architecturally fanciful facades with ornamentation, including human and animal gargoyles.

The Forward’s offices were at 175 East Broadway, just opposite Seward Park, in the heart of the Jewish Lower East Side. Naturally, local news was big news.

Trench for the high pressure water system on Bowery, beneath the southbound tracks of the Third Avenue El; ca. 1905. "Men's Furnishing Goods" retailer King Brothers is visible at right, at No. 308 Bowery. Closer to the photographer at right is the infamous Kahn's Museum, a gallery of anatomical models first opened on Broadway in 1874. At left, the uptown platform of the Third Avenue El station at Houston Street is visible.

CBGB, ca. 1985. Opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal to showcase Country, BlueGrass & Blues, CBGB’s quickly became the in-place for new music. The East Village dive was a must play for the early punk and new wave bands. The Ramones, the Misfits, Television, Blondie, the B-52’s, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, and Patti Smith all got their starts there.

130 Orchard Street, D.A. Men's & Boys Clothing, ca. 1978.

236 Elizabeth Street, ca. 1935. The altar here is set up in front of what looks to be a bakery. It was perhaps erected to celebrate the feast of St. Joseph. March 19th each year is celebrated by Italian communities all over the world. The rituals include a parade and a communal meal, usually paid for and served by the wealthier citizens to the those less fortunate (at least in the old country). The food is laid out on a table or altar with religious items and photos or objects belonging to loved ones. The meals include traditional dishes such as pasta (with breadcrumbs symbolizing sawdust to recall St. Joseph's work as a carpenter), pastries, and bread baked in the shape of rings, to symbolize Jesus' crown of thorns. Note the piles of ring shaped bread in the shop's window.

149 Mulberry Street, 1932. The Federal style building, seen at left, was more than 100 years old at the time of this photograph. Built by Stephen Van Rensselaer, a businessman, landowner, and politician, circa 1816, the home was actually built on a plot on the northwest corner of Mulberry and Grand, but moved to this location in 1841. The once wood-frame and now brick clad building retains much of its Federal styling, including the dormer windows. Currently home to a restaurant and cocktail bar called the Mulberry Project, from 1947 until 2005 it was Paolucci’s restaurant, and prior to that (at least in 1932 when the photo was taken) it was Villa Nova Restaurant.

"Extra Place, north from East 1st Street, showing at the extremity of this blind alley, buildings that face on the south side of East 2nd Street, under demolition, 1938." One of the doors seen on the left of this photograph would go on to become the back door to the famed punk club CBGB's. In 1976 the Ramones shot the cover for their album, Rocket to Russia, on Extra Place, likely against the brick wall seen in this photograph.

First Park Bocce Courts, date unknown. Bocce is a game developed in modern times in Italy during the 19th century. Italian immigrants to New York City brought their love of the game (played on a court of crushed stone, not grass, as the British lawn bowling was played) to their new home. Mayor La Guardia, the son of Italian immigrants, established the first bocce courts in New York City parks in 1934. As the city continued to build playgrounds in the Depression and post-Depression era, bocce courts were often included in the designs.

Sidewalk altar, ca. 1935.

From pig's knuckles to spaghetti to liver balls, find out how a city eats in years past!

20-24 Second Avenue; 30-32 East 1st Street Building Date : 2016 Original Use : Residential/Commercial Original Owner : 24 Second Avenue Owner, LLC Original Architect : RSVP Architecture Studio Description & Building Alterations In 2016, plans were filed for a new 10-story mixed use building designed by RSVP Architecture Studio. The new building replaced a gas station that was constructed in 1959. The gas station replaced a six-story bath house erected in 1895 and a five-story tenement built in 1869 (on former Lot 62).

Essex Street, west side, from Rivington to Houston Streets, March 13, 1932. In the center of the frame (mid block between Rivington and Stanton Streets) is no. 147. It is a simple five-story tenement building. In 1917 comic book creator Jack Kirby was born in an apartment in this building.

77-79 Delancey Street, ca. 1970. The newly chartered Bank of the United States was founded in 1914 by Joseph S. Marcus. The private bank prospered for a number of years in part because people believed its "high-titled" name indicated that it was run by the government. Many complained, particularly immigrants, that it deceived depositors into thinking it was even the central bank founded by Alexander Hamilton. Following the crash of 1929, the bank was among the first to fail. With 400,000 depositors at the time of its collapse, the New York Times declared the bank’s defeat to be the largest in history up until that point. Shortly thereafter, the building housed the Hebrew Publishing Company, one of the most famous publishers of Yiddish literature in the world. In 1976, the company relocated to a smaller office just a few blocks south on Grand Street. The building has since been converted into an office and apartment complex.

23-27 Second Avenue Building Date : 1855 (altered in 1913) Original Use : Residential Original Owner : William W. White Original Architect : Unknown Description & Building Alterations This building was originally constructed in 1855 as three of six 4-story tenement buildings that ran from No. 29 Second Avenue to the corner of East 1st Street (No. 29 is the only one of the row that has maintained its original height and massing). In 1913, the three 4-story buildings were combined and converted to a store, moving picture theater & lofts; this is presumably the year in which the building acquired its current facade. In 1930, the first floor was being used as a museum, and in 1937 it was converted to a store with meeting rooms above. The top floor became residential in 1961, according to a Certificate of Occupancy.

Orchard Street garment shops, ca. 1975.

103 Bowery ca. 1935 The Blossom Restaurant occupied the ground floor and Jimmy’s Barber Shop the basement of the Boston Hotel, a flophouse on the Bowery. As a child, Al Smith, governor of New York from 1919 to 1928, lived next door at 105 Bowery when it was a lodging house. Abbott made three exposures, one without figures, one with a ragged man perusing the restaurant menu, and a third showing the barber Jimmy and his assistant waiting for customers. The third version is the most emotionally resonant: the restlessness of these hapless people exemplifies the mood of the Depression. Like so many other buildings on the Bowery today, this one is occupied by a restaurant supply wholesaler.

Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral ARCHITECT: Joseph-François Mangin DATE: 1809-15 STYLE: Gothic Revival, Church Although only the shell of this building remained intact after the church was completely gutted by a fire in 1886, the original Cathedral, when completed in 1815, was one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the City. Some of this early Gothic work survived the restoration of 1868. Formal and severely plain in appearance, this smooth-faced windowless wall has great dignity and character in its restrained simplicity.

Building at the northeast corner of Houston and Elm (now Lafayette) Street during construction of the IRT East Side Line, October 26, 1900.

Although its cornerstone was laid in 1809, St. Patrick's was not dedicated until May 1815. The War of 1812 and financial difficulties within the diocese delayed its construction. Leading citizens attending the opening ceremonies included Mayor John Ferguson and his predecessor, DeWitt Clinton. The novelty of a Roman Catholic cathedral within the United States made the original St. Patrick's on Mott Street, below Houston, a tourist destination and an artist's subject.

316 Bowery, ca. 1980. The building with the mansard roof at left is known as the Irwin Building. Constructed in 1868 for the banker Robert Irwin, by the architect Nicholas Whyte, the four-story brick and sandstone building was unabashedly Italianate in style. Planned with commercial space on the lower floors and dwellings on the upper floors, the handsome building remained a respectable location during its first decade. Irwin was forced to sell in 1878 and the building cycled through dozens of tenants and owners over the next century, serving as a hotel, warehouse, brewery, hardware store, and factory at various points. The Bowery, a sordid locale for much of the 20th century, has seen a revitalization in the last few decades. In 2004 a substantial restoration was undertaken by the owners of the Irwin Building, reinstalling slate on the mansard, rebuilding the chimneys, cleaning the brick, and replicating lost cast iron ornamentation.

The Bowery Mission was established in 1879 and was the third rescue mission founded in the United States and the second in New York City. Since 1895 the mission has been operated by the Christian Herald Association. The mission occupied various buildings on the Bowery in its early years before moving into a permanent home at no. 227 in 1909. The building at 227 Bowery was constructed in 1876 for an undertaker and manufacturer of coffins. When the Mission leased the building, it also commissioned work for the neo-Grec structure, including the addition of a Tudor Revival style mock half-timbered facade on the second floor. Fronted with four stained glass windows, a new Gothic Revival style chapel was installed behind the stained glass. This religious-based organization was well-known for its bread lines. Numerous photographs taken during the Depression depict these queues. Today, the long-running service agency continues to provide food, shelter, employment, and medical assistance to homeless men (while also working with women and children at other locations).

Mott Street Industrial School, ca. 1890. 256-258 Mott Street once housed the Fourteenth Ward Industrial School, also known as the Mott Street Industrial School and the Astor Memorial School. The structure was built in 1888-1889 as the Children's Aid Society. Construction of the project was funded by John Jacob Astor III, who named the school in memory of his wife, a lifelong supporter of the Children's Aid Society. The Society was founded by Charles Loring Brace. Brace, a philanthropist, noticed declining conditions in New York and decided "something must be done to meet the increasing crime and poverty among the destitute children of New York. \[The Society's] objects are to help this class, by opening Sunday meetings and Industrial Schools." The Mott Street building is the only of the Children's Aid Society buildings to be designed solely as a school: others offered accommodations as well as a few classrooms. From 1889 and 1913, 256-258 Mott Street hosted night and day classes to serve the large working-class Italian immigrant community of the neighborhood. Architects Vaux & Radford, who built a number of other buildings for the Children's Aid Society over their careers, designed the school. The four-story structure is built in the Victorian Gothic Style, complete with carved stone, terra cotta, molded and colored brick, and arches topped by Tudor roses. The crowning feature of the building's facade is its three-sided oriel. An architectural critic at the time said the school was "of real interest as works of architecture as well as monuments of a noble charity." In 1913, a larger structure was built as part of the Children's Aid Society on Elizabeth and Hester Streets. The building was leased to the New York Association for the Improvement of the Conditions of the Poor, who eventually bought the structure and renamed it the Mulberry Community Center. The new community served a variety of functions, including offering medical and dental services in addition to English classes. At a point later, the structure's interior was remodeled for industrial use. The building was subsequently converted into apartments, which still occupy the former school. 256-258 Mott Street was designated a New York City landmark in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.