Hebrew Actors' Union Building
31 East 7th Street | East Village | built 1850
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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.
- 1923
The Hebrew Actors' Union buys a former row house to be its own home
The Hebrew Actors' Union, the first theatrical union in the United States, bought 31 East 7th Street in 1923. It had spent the 1910s renting upper floors in the Hebrew Free Loan Association building at 108 Second Avenue. At its peak the union had about 400 members and organized a dozen Yiddish theaters in New York and other cities. It hired architect Victor Mayper to give the old house a new front.
“In 1923 the organization purchased its own building, the former row house at 31 East 7th Street, and commissioned architect Victor Mayper…”
- 1924
Victor Mayper's alteration turns an 1850 house into a stark white Neoclassical union hall
Tax records show a building went up on this lot between 1848 and 1850, later became a multiple dwelling, and was then converted for the union. Victor Mayper's 1923-24 work raised the building, narrowed the main entrance, altered a front window and added a rear extension. The result is a white front with a balustraded parapet and a frieze lettered with the union's name above the second story.
“Present appearance dates to 1923 alteration (building raised; main entrance narrowed; westerly front window opening altered; rear extension)…”
- 2006
The defunct union's archive of Yiddish theater programs, costumes and props goes to YIVO
The parent Associated Actors and Artistes of America declared the Hebrew Actors' Union defunct in October 2005, but the union kept its building. In 2006 a cache of programs, photographs, plays, costumes, music manuscripts and props stored inside went to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research at the Center for Jewish History. The Forward reported disputes over what would become of the building in 2006 and again in 2007.
“In 2006, a cache of material including programs, photographs, plays, costumes, music manuscripts, props and other memorabilia... was deposited at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research…”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 31 East 7th StreetVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
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