German- American Shooting Society Clubhouse, ca. 1975.

Emblazoned with an eagle, crossed guns, and a symbolic target and the words Einigkeit Macht Stark (“unity is strength”), the German Renaissance Revival building recalls a time when this neighborhood was Kleindeutschland or “Little Germany.” The German-America Shooting Society was likely established in the late 1830s or 1840s, as part of German immigrant support of the German revolutions of that era and the nativist milieu present in the city at the time.

The 1888 building is four-and-a-half-stories tall, with a steep mansard roof, ornate dormers, and German-inspired terra cotta decorative elements. Designed by William C. Frohne, his first major New York commission, the building was crafted with a small shooting gallery in the basement (though most of the shooting happened at a space in Queens), a saloon, lodge rooms, and a bowling alley. Despite opening in the era where German-Americans were moving away from the old neighborhood, the building still housed meetings for 24 militia groups. Later in the 20th century, it was occupied by subsequent ethnic communities that made the East Village their home, serving as a Polish community center from 1943 until 1962 and a Ukrainian Culture Center in the 1960s. Today the landmark building is a yoga studio.