174 – 176 First Avenue Building Date : 1840-41 Original Use : Residential Original Owner : E. Townsend Original Architect : Unknown The two buildings on this lot were originally erected in 1840-41, along with the buildings at nos. 172 and 178 First Avenue. No. 174, a three story and basement structure, features a bracketed cornice with paneled frieze, hooded window lintels with moldings, and footed sills. The first and basement levels have been reconfigured to accommodate additional retail. No. 176, opened in 1904 as Caffè Pugliese by Paolo DeRobertis, an immigrant from Puglia in Apuli, was probably raised to the current height around the turn of the century. The five-story structure features a projecting bracketed cornice with decorated frieze and simplified window lintels and sills. The first floor housed DeRobertis Pasticceria & Caffe, which represents the Italian immigrant population in the early 20th Century.

De Robertis Pasticceria, April 5, 1928. Opened in 1904, De Robertis Pasticceria was an East Village mainstay for more than a century. Located in the same 176 First Avenue storefront for their entire history, the beloved shop closed at the end of 2014. Italian immigrant Paolo De Robertis first opened a tiny shop on 12th Street selling only espresso and anisette toast. In 1904, he moved around the corner and expanded his offerings. Operated by four generations of the De Robertis family, the storefront served Italian coffee, pastries, cookies and ices in a venue that still felt like it could have been 1904. The hand-cut mosaic wall tiles, pressed-tin ceiling, and patterned floor tiles were all original. (According to the family these features were all already in place when the pasticceria moved into the circa mid-19th century building.) The family, who rented the space initially, bought the building in the late 1940s. The hey day of the store's popularity came in the 1960s, while the 1970s saw the introduction of more varied and American fare while the shop and the city struggled through the financial instability of the decade. The next 30 years were largely successful for the shop. In 2014, citing the the economy and the age and health concerns of the four De Robertis siblings, the family decided to close the shop and sell the building after 110 years, much to the sadness of the neighborhood.