Electric Circus

19 St Marks Place | also 21 St Marks Place, 23 St Marks Place | East Village | built 1920

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1887

    George Ehret merges three St. Marks Place houses into Arlington Hall

    Numbers 19, 21 and 23 St. Marks Place began in 1831 as townhouses. A German music club, the Arion Society, bought 19 and 21 in 1870 and had moved to new headquarters uptown by 1887. The real estate developer George Ehret then bought all three houses and combined them into a community hall and ballroom called Arlington Hall, which hosted weddings, dances, union conventions and political events.

    Source: Internet Archive

  2. 1895

    August 22

    Theodore Roosevelt defends the Sunday liquor law to a crowd at Arlington Hall

    Hundreds of people gathered in Arlington Hall to hear Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt explain how he and his fellow commissioners were enforcing the Excise Law, which banned Sunday alcohol sales and angered much of the neighborhood. Several outbursts interrupted his speech, but reports say he won over the crowd and finished to loud applause.

    Source: Internet Archive

  3. 1905

    October

    William Randolph Hearst offers a $1,000 reward at Arlington Hall for proof of voter fraud

    The publisher William Randolph Hearst spoke at Arlington Hall in October 1905 and promised $1,000 to anyone who could show voter fraud in the Gashouse district, now Gramercy. That was the neighborhood where the Tammany Hall leader Charles Murphy lived.

    Source: Internet Archive

  4. 1914

    January 9

    Gang gunfire in the Arlington Hall vestibule kills an innocent bystander

    Men from the gangs of Benny Fein and Jack Sirocco traded shots in the hallway and vestibule of Arlington Hall. The only casualty was Fredrick Strauss, an officer of the County Clerk and an innocent bystander, who died.

    Source: Internet Archive

  5. 1917

    June 15

    A crowd of 10,000 overwhelms soldiers demanding draft cards at Arlington Hall

    On June 15, 1917, police and soldiers rounded up nearly 200 suspected draft dodgers at meeting halls across the city, and the worst trouble came at Arlington Hall. Soldiers from a coast artillery unit demanded to see draft cards and held men who had none in a separate room. About 10,000 people gathered outside, and the soldiers were overwhelmed, leaving with only 20 prisoners.

    Source: Internet Archive

  6. 1920

    The Polish National Home buys 19 to 25 St. Marks Place and closes Arlington Hall

    In 1920 the Polish National Home bought 19, 21, 23 and 25 St. Marks Place and closed Arlington Hall. The buildings filled with Polish businesses and organizations, and eventually a popular restaurant known as The Dom took over. By 1960 Stanley Tolkin ran Stanley's Bar downstairs.

    Source: Internet Archive

  7. 1966

    Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey turn the ballroom into a nightclub

    In 1966 artist Andy Warhol and filmmaker Paul Morrissey rented the ballroom at 19-25 St. Marks Place, redecorated it, and ran it as a nightclub. The Velvet Underground served as house band, with light effects and projected movies and photographs accompanying their sets in a show called the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 1967

    The Electric Circus opens as a mixed-media nightclub

    Jerry Brandt, Stanton Freeman, and their partners created the Electric Circus, which opened in 1967 with a design by Chermayeff & Geismar. Trapeze artists and fire-juggling performers worked between musical sets under flashing strobes, and acts included the Grateful Dead, Ike and Tina Turner, Sly and the Family Stone, and composer Morton Subotnick.

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 1970

    March 22

    A bomb explodes on the Electric Circus dance floor

    A small bomb went off on the dance floor on March 22, 1970, injuring 15 people. The bad publicity sped the club's decline, and it closed in August 1971.

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 2003

    A major renovation turns the old ballroom into apartments

    After the club closed, the building was no longer used for regular public performances, though it was not greatly altered until 2003. That year a major renovation removed the ballroom and converted the building into upscale apartments and retail space.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 572 buildings with stories in East Village