Electric Circus, 23 St. Marks Place. These three buildings were constructed as separate row houses in the 1830s. At their completion, they would have looked much like their neighbor across the street, the Daniel Le Roy House at 20 St. Marks Place. In the 1870s nos. 19 and 21 became the headquarters of the Arion Society, a German music club, reflecting the new immigrant community in the neighborhood. In the late 1880s, all three were purchased by brewery magnate George Erhet, who turned them into Arlington Hall, a venue of community halls and ballrooms. In 1920, the properties were purchased by the Polish National Home, Polski Dom Narodwy, and served in a similar function for the Polish community. In the 1950's a nightclub called "The Dom" opened in the basement level. Advertised as "a groovy get-together place of the neighborhood cats and chicks who dig dancing and Polish food at Avenue A prices," the Dom enjoyed patrons such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and other Beats. In 1966, Andy Warhol rented the upper level as a psychedelic performance space. Their house band: Velvet Underground. By then the Dom was losing popularity. In its final hurrah, the basement became a nightclub once again, boasting the "chic bohemian" Electric Circus. Famously, a bomb was set off on the dance floor in 1970, which injured dozens of patrons. The nightclub was never able to return to its heyday of the 1950s and 1960s, and it closed in 1971.

25 St. Mark’s Place Building Date : 1832 Original Use : Residential Original Owner : Thomas E. Davis Original Architect : Unknown Description & Building Alterations According to tax assessment records, this building was constructed in 1832-33 by Thomas E. Davis as a Federal style rowhouse. Davis was a prolific real estate developer and purchased property on the south and north sides of Eighth Street in 1831. The property was originally part of Peter Stuyvesant’s Bouwerie. Davis named the block after nearby St. Mark’s church and developed homes on large lots to attract New Yorkers of wealth. The house features a plain facade and an arched Gibbs doorway surround with squarish blocks that interrupt the surrounding bands. Doorway surround, window lintels and sills are now painted black. In 1882 and again in 1888, the building, now owned by Nicholas Schultz, was expanded and used as multiple family dwelling.

The Asian-American and Pacific Islander community has a more than 150-year-long history in the United States, dating back to the first wave of Chinese and Japanese immigrants settling on the West Coast. And while nearby neighborhoods like Chinatown or the Lower East Side may have been much more prominent hubs for Asian-Americans, Greenwich Village and the East Village nevertheless can boast a long and impressive roster of individuals, organizations, institutions, and events located here that played an important role in the story of Asian-Americans in our city and country — especially (and unsurprisingly) in relation to civil rights and the arts. It is here that rights were won; discrimination was given a human face; innovations in painting, writing, and sculpture took place; and people gathered to confront the challenges and opportunities presented by the world around them. Here are just a few of those inspiring individuals, places, and associations:

19 St. Marks Avenue ca. 1942 One of the many wonderful things about the East Village is the fascinating layers of history that convey the evolution of the neighborhood. The buildings at 19-23 St. Mark’s Place are an excellent example of how the East Village has changed over time from a wealthy merchants neighborhood to a landing spot for immigrants, to the launch pad for numerous counterculture and artistic movements. Where else would one find a building which had been townhouses for wealthy families, a ballroom, a gangster hangout, a Polish wedding chapel, and a performance venue with the Velvet Underground as the house band? The buildings at 19-23 St. Marks Place have been altered over the years diluting the handsome architecture of the original designs. They were built as three separate rowhouses in the early 1830s by real estate developer Thomas E. Davis who constructed many of the homes on this block of St. Marks Place. This undated photo at left gives a sense of how impressive the buildings were. We can also see the buildings’ resemblance to two New York City Landmarks in the same block, the Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Marks Place (a Federal house which GVSHP helped get landmarked in 2003) and the Daniel Le Roy House at 20 St. Marks Place. These early buildings are truly a rarity and unfortunately many are often targets for development. Reflecting the changing demographics of the neighborhood in 1870, the buildings at 19 and 21 St. Marks Place were acquired by the Arion Society, a German music club, one of many that emerged in the East Village as it developed into Kleindeustchland, or Little Germany. When the Arion Society moved uptown in 1887 all three buildings were purchased by George Erhet and combined into community halls and ballrooms as Arlington Hall. Arlington Hall hosted everyone from Theodore Roosevelt, when he was a NYC Police Commissioner, to William Randolph Hearst. One of its most infamous incidents occurred on January 6, 1914 when there was a mob shootout between Jewish mobsters led by Benjamin “Dope Benny” Fein and Italian gangster Jack Sirocco’s crew. In 1920 the buildings were acquired by the Polish National Home or Polski Dom Narodowy, a community meeting hall and restaurant. The building began to transform again as the Beat Generation took root in the Village in the 1950s and 1960s. A performance space was opened in part of the basement that became a dance venue known as The Dom that attracted mostly black patrons. In an odd twist of “upstairs/downstairs” a short time later in 1966 Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey rented the upstairs space to open a psychedelic performance venue known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable with The Velvet Underground as the house band. Under new management, it reopened as the Electric Circus, a chic bohemian nightclub that drew more than 3,000 people to its opening night, according to contemporary coverage in The Village Voice. As evidence of its “boho chicness,” the interior pictured below, was designed to resemble a 1960s version of a Bedouin tent. So what happened to the Electric Circus? One could say it fell victim to the increasingly radicalized activity centered in the East Village in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In March 1970 a bomb was set off in the middle of the dance floor, injuring dozens. Though unconfirmed the bombing was attributed to the Black Panther Party. The club never regained its chic reputation and closed in 1971. In the 1980s and 1990s, the building was the All Craft Center, an addiction treatment and housing facility run by local interfaith minister Joyce Hartwell. A 1998 article from the New York Times recounted Hartwell’s unrealized plans to add a large tower to the facility in the adjoining rear lot. Not only were Hartwell’s plans unrealized, due to the group’s financial difficulties in 2000 the building was sold to a developer.