B-288_305+Henry+Street

BLOCK 288

Henry Street Settlement

B-288_301 Henry Street

(New York Times)



JOINS 301 HENRY STREET FROM HHS WEBSITE:
 * BLOCK || 288 ||
 * LOT || 24 ||
 * NB || BUILT 1948 ||
 * USE || "PETE'S HOUSE", HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT ||
 * ORIGINAL USE || INSTITUTIONAL, HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT ||
 * CURRENT USE || INSTITUTIONAL, HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT ||
 * NUMBER OF STORIES || 4 ||
 * FAÇADE MATERIALS || BRICK, LIMESTONE, WROUGHT IRON ||
 * FOUNDATION MATERIAL || GRANITE ||
 * STYLE || SIMPLIFIED COLONIAL REVIVAL ||
 * FIREPROOF || YES ||
 * NUMBER OF UNITS || ? ||
 * ELEVATOR || ? ||
 * NUMBER OF ELEVATORS || ? ||
 * DATE OF INSTALLATION || ? ||
 * PARKING GARAGE || NO ||
 * DESCRIPTION || x ||
 * DATE OF INSTALLATION || x ||
 * NUMBER OF PARKING SPACES || x ||
 * LOT SIZE || 48.5' x 76.25' ||
 * BUILDING SIZE || 9,476 SQUARE FEET ||
 * BUILDING HEIGHT ||  ||
 * RELATIONSHIP TO LOT LINE || UP TO, CONNECTED TO 301 HENRY STREET ||
 * ARCHITECT NAME + ADDRESS || DeYOUNG, MOSKOWITZ & ROSENBURG ||
 * BUILDER NAME + ADDRESS || ? ||
 * OWNER/DEVELOPER NAME + ADDRESS HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT ||

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The two adjoining structures known as 301 Henry Street were constructed separately and at different periods, but were eventually combined to share interior halls and mechanical systems. Together these buildings are known as the Helen Hall Youth Center. They house the Henry Street Settlement's Youth Services and the administrative offices of the Home Care Program.=====

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Pete's House, the earlier of the two structures, originally held a pair of private dwellings that were enlarged over the years for multiple housing. By 1920, the two original buildings were functioning as a small synagogue. The Settlement acquired the property, and with extensive alterations converted it into a youth center. The project, funded by Edith and Herbert Lehman, was named Pete's House in memory of their son Peter, who had worked as a volunteer youth leader at the Settlement. During World War II he became an officer in the U.S. Air Force, and was killed in England in 1944.=====

 Designed by architects DeYoung, Moscowitz and Rosenberg, construction was completed on the building in 1948. The simplified Colonial Revival façade shows the architects' desire to reflect the style of the Settlement's historic original buildings just yards away on Henry Street. The four-story with basement has: a six bay façade with six over six double hung windows, a dark red brick façade, raised decorative beaded mortar joints, and a limestone belt course above the first-story windows. The sills, lintels and rooftop parapet coping are also smoothly tooled limestone. Decorative ironwork on the front façade consists of elliptical wrought iron window railings on the second level that are repeated in the roof level coping railing. The granite foundation is followed vertically upward by a four-foot brick foundation that culminates with a horizontal molded brick course set into the plane of the front façade of the building. A pair of raised panel oak doors are recessed into the façade with a granite stoop below and horizontal transom light above. The Pete's House name is carved into the limestone lintel above.At the opening day ceremony, more than 1,500 people attended the outdoor dedication ceremony in front of Pete's House. At the ribbon cutting, Herbert Lehman- who in 1932 succeeded Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Governor of New York -spoke of his son Peter, "He would, in his kindly heart, wish that Pete's House may be a center where many of our young people of all faiths and races and national origins can meet in friendship and goodwill." Pete's House still serves this mission for the Lower East Side Community today. The Charles and Stella Guttman Building, which adjoins Pete's House, was funded by Charles Guttman, who as a child lived in a house on the same site. Growing up in the neighborhood he participated in many of the programs offered by the Henry Street Settlement, but his fondest memories were of the summer sleep away camp the Settlement offered to neighborhood children.