60 Avenue B | Block : 400 | Lot #38

Description & Building Alterations

This 22-family tenement was built right at the time that the tenement laws changed.  Architect Michael Bernstein submitted the application just shy of one month before the “new law” went into effect.  Bernstein and a member of the Department of Buildings were accused of submitting fake applications for property owners ahead of the change so that owners could build tenements that crammed more apartments into less space, to make those buildings more profitable.  Based on the date and the errors and lack of detail in the application, it seems possible that this is one of those buildings.  For more information about this issue, click on the New York Times article from July 1901 under Additional Resources.

Like many of the later buildings by the prolific firm Bernstein & Bernstein that Michael Bernstein shared with his brother, No. 60 uses the Renaissance Revival style.  The window lintels, surrounds, pressed-metal cornice and brick detailing use classical elements popular in that aesthetic.  This building was constructed as one of a pair. The other building, which was adjacent to the north, was demolished in 1968 along with the Loew’s Theatre to make room for the Cabrini Nursing facility.