9 East 7th Street; 53-61 Cooper Square | Block : 463 | Lot #1

Description & Building Alterations

This New York City Landmark building, constructed in 1867 and designated a landmark in 1969, is an impressive marble work of the Italianate and French Second Empire style. It remains a significant presence on the corner of Third Avenue and East Seventh Street. Originally constructed for the Metropolitan Savings Bank by architect Carl Pfeiffer, the structure is considered one of the earliest examples of fireproof construction in the city, prompting the Superintendent of Buildings to remark at the time of its construction that “it is one of the handsomest and most thoroughly constructed buildings in the city, and a perfect model in its precaution against fire.”

The building’s four-and-a-half story facade is constructed entirely of elaborately articulated marble, with decorative band courses at each floor, extensive rustication and quoinwork, ornamental entablatures and braces, and ceremonial Corinthian columns and pediments framing the entry. The building’s final floor is in a distinctive and delicately-articulated Mansard roof supported by a decorative marble cornice, creating a sophisticated Second Empire profile on the streetscape. In 1937, the building was sold to the First Ukrainian Assembly of God and has seen continuous ecclesiastical use since, primarily by the First Ukrainian Evangelical Pentecostal Church.