641 East 5th Street; 637-649 East 5th Street | Block : 387 | Lot #144

Description & Building Alterations

These apartments are part of the NYCHA Lower East Side II Housing consolidation, which includes four buildings in the area, including the visually similar building on the opposite side of the street.

The building, completed in 1988, replaced mostly tenement buildings from the turn of the century. Among them were three Old Law Tenements (633-637 East 5^th Street) built by architect Max Müller in 1894, and another tenement (651 East 5^th Street), by George Frederick Pelham, constructed in 1904. In the mid-1960’s the tenements by Müller were part of an experimental project called Instant Rehabilitation. The project was sponsored by the Federal Housing Administration and was an attempt at bringing conditions of Old Law tenements up to modern standards.