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Many Layers of History at 1st Avenue and 3rd Street

New Year, new entries! As the calendar year resets, so to the dates that correspond to Village intersections.  We begin our 2019 series back where it all started: the East Village.  In honor of today’s date, we are taking a look at the history and buildings around 1st Avenue and 3rd Street.

To look back at some of the intersections we explored in 2018, click here.

 

33 First Avenue

A five-story tenement buildings previously occupied the lot which was built 1870-71. The upper stories were removed and the height was changed to 15′ in 1937, modifying the building into one story. The second story addition was erected in 1990. At this time, the ground floor was utilized as a laundromat and the upper floor as office space.

 

 

99 East 3rd Street

This building first appears in the property tax records in 1845 where it was described as ‘unfinished’ and the street number used to be No. 93 at time of construction. The 1862 map shows the house numbers reassigned along this section of East 3rd Street on the north side to the present day configuration.

The facade features patterned brickwork in the Arts & Crafts style. It is unclear when the current facade was installed.


Village View Houses (40 First Ave.)

Village View Houses- 139-171 East 4th Street

The Village View Houses were constructed in 1960. The project was originally intended to serve as low-income housing and was to be called the Franklin D. Roosevelt Houses. However, prior to the completion of construction, it was renamed and converted into middle-income cooperatives sponsored by a group of six colleges: NYU, City College, Bank Street College of Education, Cooper Union, Mills College of Education, and the New School for Social Research.

Before blocks 432 and 433 were combined into the present Block 432, lot numbers 18-24, 26-30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 40, and 42 of block 433 were part of William B. Astor’s holdings and were leased out to various people between 1850 and 1875.  His holdings also extended to the entirety of the original block 432, which was between East 4th and East 5th Streets.

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