Historic Block Slated for Demolition
In August 2023 news broke that a row of six historic buildings on 3rd Avenue south of Union Square were scheduled for demolition. 50-52, 56, 58, 60, and 64 3rd Avenue comprise almost the entire block between 10th and 11th Streets. Dates of construction of the buildings date from the early 19th to the turn of the 20th centuries. Today we explore some of the history behind these properties.
50 3rd Avenue (50-52 3rd Avenue)
Constructed in the mid-19th century and remodeled in 1991, this building was once two separate buildings and there remain two separate storefronts.
From the late 19th century until sometime in the 1960s, a store called Sig Klein’s Fat Men’s Shop existed at 52 3rd Avenue (see image at top). Prominent artists including photographers Berenice Abbott, Ben Shahn, and Tony Marciante captured images of the Sig Klein’s shop, which had become a cultural landmark by the 1930s.
56 3rd Avenue
Built in 1906 as a restaurant and lofts for light manufacturing, this building was home to the Brata Gallery from 1963 to 1974. Originally located at 89 East 10th Street, the Brata Gallery was one of many artist-run cooperative “Tenth Street Galleries” in the neighborhood.
The Brata Gallery showcased work by a diverse group of artists, including African-American painter Ed Clark and the Japanese-American artists Robert Kobayashi and Nanae Momiyama. In 1963, avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas organized and wrote about screenings that took place here, programmed by his Film-Makers’ Co-op.
Sculptor James Rosati was also listed at this address in 1964 and 1970. Rosati worked as a sculptor for the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s and later taught at Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, and Yale University. He was especially well known for his Cubist-inspired monumental sculptures, which decorated museum gardens and corporate plazas and lobbies. Click here to read more about the history of this building on our East Village Building Blocks Website.
58 3rd Avenue
This building was constructed in 1839-39 along with its three northern neighbors, 60, 62, and 64 3rd Avenue. All four were built as three-story buildings and had a fourth story added around the turn of the 20th century.
The merchant tailor Frederick Yung moved his eighteen year old, and rapidly growing, business to 58 Third Avenue in 1883. According to New York’s Great Industries, published two years later, Yung’s enterprise was “one of the largest and most prominent tailoring establishments on Third Avenue.” Click here to read more about the history of this building on our East Village Building Blocks Website.
60 3rd Avenue
This four-story brick row house was built at the same time as nos. 62 and 58 Third Avenue. The facade of no. 60 was stripped of its historic details with the removal of the cornice and lintels sometime in the past 40 years. See the historic details here in the 1980 tax photo. Click here to read more about the history of this building on our East Village Building Blocks Website.
62 3rd Avenue
Until 2016, this building housed the New York Central Art Supply. New York Central Art Supply was founded in 1905 by Benjamin Steinberg and remained a family-run business for over a century. The art store supplied artists such as Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Roy Lichtenstein. As a young child in 1877, James T. Lee, the grandfather of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and his parents lived in this building. James T. Lee became a prolific developer of New York City buildings. Click here to read more about the history of this building on our East Village Building Blocks Website.
64 3rd Avenue
This four-story row house was likely built at the same time as the adjacent building at 122 East 11th Street at the rear of this lot. Like its three southern and western neighbor this building was probably built as a 3-story building and had its top floor added later in the 19th century.
These buildings, and their relationship to New York’s emergence at the center of the art world in the mid-20th century, their evolution from residential to commercial use and vice-versa, and their connection to both popular culture and high art, is perfectly emblematic of the neighborhood South of Union Square of which they are a part, and for which we are seeking landmark designation. You can find out more about this effort and support landmark designation here and here.
I worked for NY Central in the 90’s and 00’s. 62 and 64 3rd Avenue were both owned by the Steinberg family in the early 20th century. They were connected by a doorway in the middle of the first floor. This was walled off when #64 was sold. My heart was broken when the store closed, this is just the nail in the coffin of the NYC I once knew.
I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. I have lived here since 1977. I grew up in BedSty and we would go shop at Abraham and Strauss, A&S. I cannot believe what downtown Brooklyn, Flatbush Avenue, looks like and the buildings destroyed there to look like Manhattan. No offense, if I wanted to live in Manhattan, I would’ve years ago. These developers are destroying all neighborhoods with these high risers. I hate it.