This complex, all of which at one point was part of the Hotel Albert, consists of several structures built in stages, sometimes for different purposes. The most visually prominent of these is the structure located at 63 University Place on the southeast corner of 11th Street and University Place. Commissioned by Albert Rosenbaum, it was the first section of the complex to use the Albert name. Built in 1881-82 as a high-end apartment house or “French Flats,” and called the Albert Apartment House, it was one of the earliest examples in New York of the then-novel concept of apartment house design for middle- or upper-class residents. It was designed by the great architect Henry Hardenbergh, designer of perhaps the most famous and beloved of all of New York’s early apartment houses, Central Park West’s the Dakota (1880-84), of which it is a contemporary, as well as other great New York City landmarks such as the Schermerhorn Building located just a few blocks away on Lafayette Street, and the Plaza Hotel. In 1887, the Albert Apartments was converted into a hotel, rechristened the Hotel Albert. Just a few years later in 1895, the Hotel Albert absorbed the neighboring St. Stephen, thus beginning Albert’s outward sprawl. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This distinctive structure is notable as an early surviving example of the French Flat or middle-class apartment building in New York City, for its unusual combination of architectural styles, and for its design by one of New York’s most prominent and esteemed architects of the time, who had a significant impact upon the immediate vicinity with other works, including the National Historic Landmark Grace Church. 39-41 East 10th Street was built in 1887, a time when apartment buildings were just beginning to be introduced in New York as an acceptable form of living for middle or upper-class residents. It is one of the earliest extant French Flats or middle-class apartment buildings in the area and in New York City. Built when this area was still a prestigious residential address but beginning to transform into a commercial center, The Lancaster was clearly an attempt to attract a more sophisticated resident of means, as many who preferred a neighborhood of private homes were increasingly shunning the area.

To create this kind of appeal, the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell was chosen. The firm’s roots in the area were deep; not only had Renwick made a name for himself decades earlier with his design of Grace Church just down the block, but the Renwick family (which included Renwick’s partner William Russell) were relatives of the landholding Brevoorts. In fact, the Renwicks owned and developed this property, replacing a house that had previously occupied the spot. The façade combines elements from two then-emerging styles in residential architecture, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival. At the centered entryway is a large Federal-style fanlight at the transom surrounded by a decorative terra cotta arch. Above the entry is the name “The Lancaster” incised into the brick, and at either side of the entry and also incised into the brick are the numbers “39” to the left and “41” to the right. Still a residence today, the building’s architectural elements and its exterior ironwork remain remarkably intact to the original period of construction more than one hundred thirty years ago. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This cast-iron building was constructed in 1869 as one of the finest department stores in New York. By the turn of the century as this stretch of the Broadway corridor’s status decreased, uses changed but remained commercial. In 1966, 801-807 Broadway/67-85 East 11th Street became one of the first structures in New York City to be considered for individual landmark designation by the Commission due to its overwhelming architectural and cultural significance. However, in 1971, a fire began in one of the factories in the building and destroyed the interior of the building before designation could take place. However, it remained under consideration for landmarking, or “calendared,” for the next 50 years. Thanks to the cast-iron construction, the façade was left unscathed by the fire. In 1972, the building was purchased by the Elghanayan brothers. When their intentions to demolish the remaining shell and erect a high-rise apartment building in its place was announced, the community protested. Residents rallied along with the Friends of Cast Iron and community groups, appearing before the Board of Appeals. In response, the Board Standards and Appeals granted variances that, for the first time, made adapting a cast-iron structure such as this to residential use feasible and legal, thus paving the way for a slew of similar such conversions in Lower Manhattan and throughout New York that would follow. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Permits to build 126 East 12th Street were filed in March of 1900, one of the hundreds if not thousands of tenements constructed in the months before the passage of the “New Law” requiring more light and air in new tenements in New York, in order to avoid these more generous requirements — though this one does not appear to have been trying to avoid that requirement. This “Old Law” tenement was designed for twenty-four families, four on each of its six floors. Each floor also had four water closets (toilets, no sinks) which was unusually generous, since typical tenements would have provided only one water closet for every two families. Also unusual was the width of the building at 45 feet. Typical old law tenements were built on 25 foot wide lots, with either two small apartments in the front and two in the rear, or two long, narrow “railroad” apartments that went from the front to the back of the building on either side. The difference in space per family and ample water closets at No. 126 when compared to what was typical can most likely be explained by the person who built and owned it — John P. Schuchman. Schuchman was born in Germany in 1851 and immigrated to the United States in 1868. He became a lawyer and later a judge who lived in a house (still extant) just around the corner from here at 186 Second Avenue (just south of 12th Street). A pillar in the German-American community which came to dominate the East Village in the late 19th century, he also served on the Tenement House Committee in the 1890s, the purpose of which was to make recommendations to improve conditions in housing for poor and working-class New Yorkers. Ultimately that would lead to the Tenement House Act of 1901, which resulted in new and higher standards for New York City housing. But for 126 East 12th Street, Schuman appears to have raised those standards, at least in part, on his own, before the law even required it. That was also a consequence of, and reflected in, his choice of architect for the modest building, John G. Prague. A well-known and prolific architect, the majority of Prague’s work can be found on the Upper West Side, where he was commissioned to design high-end private homes and apartment buildings. A New York Times article from 1894 credits him with the beautification of the neighborhood. By 1890, due to the work of Mr. Prague, 86th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues was referred to as the “queen of all West Side Streets.” The Sunset Apartments on the northeast corner of 85th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and the Brockholst at 85th Street and Columbus Avenue are just a couple of his noteworthy works. Prague built a total of two hundred fourteen buildings between 1869 until 1894. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .