6 East 3rd Street; 6-8 East 3rd Street; 6-20 East 3rd Street | Block : 458 | Lot #11

Building Date : 1912
Original Use : YMCA

Original Owner : YMCA
Original Architect : Jackson & Rosencrans

Description & Building Alterations

This building started as the home to the Bowery Branch YMCA and is currently used as the Department of Welfare Municipal Shelter, continuously serving the neighborhood for more than 130 years. YMCA sold the property to the City of New York in 1947.

The building was constructed in 1912 and was six stories high and appears to have received a seventh floor before the 1980s.

Block : 458 / Lot : 011 / Building Date : 1912 / Original Owner : YMCA / Original Use : YMCA / Original Architect : Jackson & Rosencrans

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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.