269 East 4th Street; 265-275 East 4th Street | Block : 387 | Lot #49

Building Date : 1897
Original Use : Institutional

Original Owner : City of New York
Original Architect : C.B.J. Snyder

Description & Building Alterations

No. 271 East 4^th Street was originally a public school building constructed in 1897. This four story structure’s façade is clad with buff brick, terra cotta and limestone. This is the only Snyder school in the East Village that is tan instead of red brick. The brick at the first story is set to simulate rusticated stone. The middle two stories have ashlar cut quoins and the middle, upper-story windows are capped by round arches resting on pilasters between the windows. The windows are all tripartite (double hung with a transom on top), the second and third floor windows feature heavily ornamented lintels.

The school building P.S. 105 was abandoned by 1963, and an application was made to alter the property into a community house for Mobilization for Youth, a program that provided technical job training. In 1993, the building began housing a non-profit institution that provides housing accommodations for the homeless.

Block : 387 / Lot : 049 / Building Date : 1897 / Original Owner : City of New York / Original Use : Institutional / Original Architect : C.B.J. Snyder

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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.

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