277 East 4th Street | Block : 387 | Lot #48

Description & Building Alterations

No. 277 East 4^th Street was constructed along with its neighbor at 279 East 4^th Street in 1900 as an Old Law Tenement.  It is six stories in height, four bays wide and has a dumb bell plan.  It is clad in stucco with limestone ornament expressed in a classical vocabulary.  The modillioned cornice has swags at the frieze.  There are string courses running below the windows and a centered entry.

An interesting piece of social history involves the hanging of a service banner during World War II across East 4^th Street in 1942, which was suspended from 277 East 4^th Street to a building across the street at 272 East 4^th Street, to hang there for the duration of the war. This building was acquired by Mobilization for Youth in 1965 to train youth work crews how to rehabilitate the vacant tenement. Today there are thirteen units in the building and it is owned by New York City Housing.