219 Second Avenue | Block : 469 | Lot #34

Description & Building Alterations

Built as a single-family row house circa 1850, most of the original details have been stripped. The building once had angular window enframements and a bracketed cornice, likely in the Italianate style. Although the door surround is gone, the building still has its raised-stoop entrance. In 1903, the building was converted from a single-family residence into a two family building with commercial space below; in fact the commercial space was expanded to house a bowling alley. In the mid-1960s, the raised-basement was used as a theater, which was typical for Second Avenue 20 years earlier, but by the 1960s very few remained on the street. Ironically, this building never housed more than two families until recently, even though many of the neighboring buildings functioned as tenements very early on.