64-74 Avenue B; 544-548 East 5th Street | Block : 400 | Lot #31

Building Date : 1912/1966-70 alt.
Original Use : Commercial

Original Owner : Natoma Amusement Co. (1912)
Original Architect : Thomas W. Lamb (1912)

Description & Building Alterations

The six-story building on the southwest corner of Avenue B and East 5th Street was constructed 1966-70 as an alteration of the 1912 theater. It was originally built as a nursing home facility called Cabrini Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.

The theater was the Loew’s Avenue B Theatre, owned by Marcus Loew, and was built on the site of his former tenement home. Loew showed no restraint when building this theater: Architect Thomas W. Lamb designed an ornate building with terra cotta details and grand arches framing large lobby windows. The theater operated from 1912 until 1958 and presumably sat vacant until it was demolished between 1968 and 1969. For more information about the theater, click on the links under Loew’s Theatre in our Additional Resources section.

Block : 400 / Lot : 31 / Building Date : 1912/1966-70 alt. / Original Owner : Natoma Amusement Co. (1912) / Original Use : Commercial / Original Architect : Thomas W. Lamb (1912)

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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.