185 First Avenue; 179-195 First Avenue; 321-345 East 11th Street; 324-354 East 12th Street | Block : 453 | Lot #34

Description & Building Alterations

This public school building with an adjacent playground was constructed in 1954 and opened on September 10th, 1956. It was named the Asser Levy School (P.S.19). According to the Office for Metropolitan History, the architect was Michael L. Radoslovich and the owner was the City of New York Department of Education. Many tenements ranging in height from three to six stories were once on this site. The building features a flat roof line, brick surface throughout, continuous horizontal window openings with projecting lintels, and simple rectangular sills.

Bootlegger Ignazio La Barbera, who was connected to and killed by the East Village mafia, lived in a previous building located at 321 East 11^th Street. On September 30, 1922, he was shot dead by two gunmen blocks from his apartment. Afterward, police discovered that La Barbera, who worked for perfume manufacturer George Parazzo at 402 East 11^th Street, had almost two hundred gallons of alcohol in his apartment. This suggested that Parazzo’s was one of many Prohibition-era perfumery fronts.