Downtown Community House
105 Washington Street | Financial District | built 1926
Open on the map3 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1926
The Downtown Community House opens as a settlement house in Little Syria
Funded largely by Bon Ami founder William H. Childs, the Downtown Community House opens on May 5, 1926, with two pageants and a speech by Mayor Jimmy Walker. Architect John F. Jackson designs the Colonial Revival building for the Bowling Green Neighborhood Association, a settlement house serving the immigrant families of Little Syria. It holds clinics, a milk dispensary, a gymnasium, and the first public library in Downtown Manhattan.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1936
The building becomes a WPA-sponsored recreation center for physically disabled adults
In 1936 the building becomes the Recreation and Training School for the Adult Physically Handicapped, sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. It is described as the first center in the United States devoted to recreation and athletics for disabled adults, with classes in arts and crafts, swimming, dancing, and puppetry. In 1943 the former community house reopens as a War Shipping Administration office offering medical services to merchant seamen.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
Preservationists press the city to landmark the Community House
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates neighboring St. George's Syrian Catholic Church in 2009 but declines to hold hearings on 105-107 Washington Street. In 2018 the Friends of the Lower West Side applies for a historic district covering five properties, including the Community House. As of 2019, the commission has not acted and has not even toured the area.
Source: 6sqft
Further reading
- Downtown Community HouseWikipedia
Nearby
- St. George's Syrian Catholic Church103 Washington Street | 4 entries
- 109 Washington Street3 entries
- Augustine Lawrence House94 Greenwich Street | 5 entries
- 88 Greenwich Street19 Rector Street | 4 entries
- United States Express Company Building101 Greenwich Street | 6 entries
- New York Evening Post Building71 West Street | 6 entries