75 St. Mark’s Place | Block : 450 | Lot #37

Description & Building Alterations

This four-story with basement tenement was originally erected as a three-and-a-half story house in 1845, and was raised to four stories in 1875-76. The facade features a bracketed roof cornice with a paneled frieze, molded window lintels with hoods and footed sills at second to fourth stories. The entrance has been moved from first floor to the basement and the lintels at first story have been stripped.

The building housed the legendary dive bar “Holiday Cocktail Lounge” until 2012, which, significantly, a number of openly gay artists frequented. In the 1950s writer W. H. Auden, Alan Ginsberg and other Beatniks were regulars at the bar. Other regulars included Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, and Madonna.