Hebrew Free Loan Association building
108 2nd Avenue | East Village | built 1908
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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.
- 1883
The Swiss Benevolent Society moves into a Second Avenue rowhouse that once stood here
Around 1883 the Swiss Benevolent Society, which dated to 1846, took over a three-story rowhouse standing on this lot. The house was converted to a five-story tenement before 1905, the year the property was sold to the Hebrew Free Loan Association, which then built something new in its place.
- 1905
The Hebrew Free Loan Association buys the lot and commissions a new headquarters
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The Hebrew Free Loan Association, founded in 1892 to make small interest-free loans to immigrants and others in need, bought the lot in 1905. Instead of using the old tenement, it commissioned a new building, dedicated in 1907, with a banking department on the first floor and offices, club rooms and boarding rooms above. The Commission dates the building permit to 1908 and the architect to Max Muller.
- 1916
Raphael Prager gives the loan association's building a new limestone front for $12,000
The look of 108 Second Avenue today probably dates to 1916, when architect Raphael Prager redesigned the building with a new front wall at a cost of $12,000. The limestone facade has double-height Doric pilasters at the base, a granite water table, and bracketed, pedimented lintels on the upper floors. It replaced the original 1908 design by Max Muller. The frieze reading Hebrew Free Loan Association is now covered by credit-union signage.
“The current appearance of the building likely dates to a 1916 alteration which included a "new front wall" and cost $12,000 (ALT 1682-1916).”
- 1972
The loan association leaves 108 Second Avenue in 1972 and the building passes to a federal credit union
Other groups kept offices in the building over the years, including the Progress Republican Club around 1926 and the Wigwam Democratic Club in the late 1930s. The Hebrew Free Loan Association stayed until 1972, when ownership passed to the Self Reliance (N.Y.) Federal Credit Union. The credit union still occupies the building, and Cyrillic lettering now appears on its facade.
“The HFLA remained in this building until 1972, when ownership was transferred to the Self Reliance (N.Y.) Federal Credit Union, which continues to occupy the structure today.”
Further reading
- 108 Second AvenueVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
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