Mission of the Immaculate Virgin convent

381 Lafayette Street | NoHo | built 1891

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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. 1891

    The Mission of the Immaculate Virgin rebuilds a town house as a convent and chapel

    The Mission bought the house on Lafayette Place from A.H. Stephens around 1888-89. In 1890-91 the architect Benjamin E. Lowe raised the attic to a full fifth story, gave the front a new Northern Renaissance Revival design and added a chapel at the rear of the lot. The Mission dated to 1870, when it began as a home for orphaned newsboys.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1891

    The convent houses the nuns and offices of St. Joseph's Home for boys

    The building served the Sisters of St. Francis, who ran St. Joseph's Home next door, and held the Home's administrative offices. The Home took in destitute, homeless boys and found them work, and for $2 a week provided meals and lodging to working boys able to pay, among them newsboys and bootblacks. The Home stood beside the convent until it was demolished in 1929.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1904

    December 25

    The Mission serves Christmas dinner to 1,500 men and women

    The New-York Tribune reported that the Mission fed 1,500 men and women in a dinner that lasted from noon until 4 p.m. Father Fitzpatrick welcomed each guest as they came in. The adult dinner may have been a one-time event; in 1908 the Tribune wrote only of the boys' dinner and tree.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1965

    Robert Rauschenberg buys the former convent and turns it into a home and studio

    After the Mission sold the building in 1965, Rauschenberg spent a year renovating it, deconsecrating the chapel and merging it with the former orphanage offices to make a studio. From 1966 to 1970 it was his main workplace and a gathering spot for artists and engineers; Brice Marden, Mel Bochner, Yvonne Rainer and Dorothea Rockburne all stayed. He made Revolvers, Solstice, Soundings and Carnal Clocks in the chapel.

    Source: rauschenbergfoundation.org

  5. 1969

    October 25

    Firefighters step around Rauschenberg's artwork while putting out a fire

    Rauschenberg was away in Los Angeles when a passerby saw smoke at about 3:15 p.m. Firefighters broke in through a fifth-floor skylight and found sculptures, photo montages and silkscreens, which they carefully avoided; the work was valued at about $200,000. His assistant Brice Marden checked the damage, including a sculpture called Oracle, and found little that could not be repaired. The fire was controlled by 4:38.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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