131 – 135 Avenue B | Block : 391 | Lot #3

Building Date : 1929
Original Use : Institutional

Original Owner : William H. Matthews
Original Architect : Frank E. Vitolo

Description & Building Alterations

This six-story apartment house replaced six 1905 tenement buildings in 1929. It was built by the Association for Improving the Conditions of the Poor, a charitable organization that provided housing for poor New Yorkers. The building is relatively un-ornamented and has round arched windows on the first floor. The exterior of the building appears to be mostly intact since original construction.

Block : 391 / Lot : 003 / Building Date : 1929 / Original Owner : William H. Matthews, Director of Family Welfare A.I.C.P / Original Use : Institutional / Original Architect :Frank E. Vitolo

Do you know this building? Please share your own stories or photos of this building here!

What is the Building Blocks Project

What does a building mean to someone who lives there? A person who lives on the block? In the neighborhood? In the city? This site presents a wealth of historic information gained from GVSHP’s architectural research survey about the buildings located in the East Village.

The site explores the area generally considered today as the East Village: from a northern border of 14th Street to a southern border of Houston Street, Avenue D in the east to 4th Avenue/the Bowery to the west. You can explore the information about the blocks and buildings featured here in two ways.

Pick a block. Maybe it’s yours, or perhaps it is just your favorite place to shop, grab a bite, or just people watch. Then explore the buildings that make up that block. Or take one of the many guided tours on the site, curated by a collection of organizations and experts from the neighborhood. See how they experience the neighborhood. Then tell us what the neighborhood means to you. The site’s comments section allows you to open a dialogue with others who feel just as passionately as you do about the East Village.