99 Avenue B; 97-101 Avenue B | Block : 389 | Lot #7501

Description & Building Alterations

This lot is comprised of two six-story buildings, constructed consecutively in 1903 and 1904 and designed by architects Horenburger & Straub. The first of the two, No. 97-99 Avenue B, originally contained three stores each in the first floor and cellar, with apartments for twenty-two families. No. 101 Avenue B contained eleven apartments. From 1999 until June, 2019, the punk bar Manitoba’s occupied the ground floor at 99 Avenue B. It was owned by musician Handsome Dick Manitoba, who played in and fronted several punk bands.

Each building is five bays wide and are clad in red brick with gray brick and stone used as ornament including the gray brick “quoins.”  Both new law tenement buildings retain their original footprints, although they have been converted into condominiums. Despite the conversion, the façade retains some of its historic detail, except that it is missing its cornice, originally made of sheet iron.