East Side Hebrew Institute (left) and Church of St. Brigid (right), ca. 1975.

Founded in 1910, the Institute was a Talmud Torah school (providing after-school and weekend classes) until mid-century when it added a day school. However, the blight and crime of the 1970s made the school’s Tompkins Square location untenable; the school moved to Irving Place in 1975, leaving the building abandoned.