[Aschenbroedel Verein, 74 East 4th Street.]
Later Gesangverein Schillerbund.
1977
[Aschenbroedel Verein, 74 East 4th Street.]
Later Gesangverein Schillerbund.
74 East 4th Street, ca. 1977.
This building was constructed in 1873 as the headquarters for the German-American professional orchestral musicians' social and benevolent association, Aschenbroedel Verein. Designed by German-born architect August H. Blankenstein, the facade of the four-story building was altered in 1892. The new facade combined the German Renaissance Revival and neo-Grec styles with German folk motifs. The musicians' society moved to Yorkville in 1892, and the building briefly became the home of Gesangverein Schillerbund, a long established German singing society. Later the structure housed assembly and dance halls, the Newsboys' Athletic Club, a laundry, and a meatpacking plant. In 1969, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club moved into the building and continues to produce theatre in a number of spaces in the building.