B-288_267+Henry+Street

BLOCK 288

Landmarks

B-288_263 Henry Street

B-288_265 Henry Street

B-336_464 GRAND STREET

Henry Street Settlement

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK: []

HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE: HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: [|discover.lib.umn.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=umfa;cc=umfa;q1=HENRY%20STREET%20SETTLEMENT;rgn=main;view=text;didno=sw0058]

LILIAN D. WALD PAPERS AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: []





 HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT WEBSITE:
 * BLOCK || 288 ||
 * LOT || 78 ||
 * NB || BUILT 1834, REMODELING 1910, RESTORATION 1996 ||
 * USE || HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT ||
 * ORIGINAL USE || RESIDENTIAL ||
 * CURRENT USE || INSTITUTIONAL, HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT (INITIATED 1893) ||
 * NUMBER OF STORIES || 3 PLUS BASEMENT ||
 * FAÇADE MATERIALS || BRICK, LIMESTONE ||
 * FOUNDATION MATERIAL || STONE ||
 * STYLE || GREEK REVIVAL UPDATED TO COLONIAL REVIVAL, 1910 ||
 * FIREPROOF || NO ||
 * NUMBER OF UNITS || 3 ||
 * ELEVATOR || NO ||
 * NUMBER OF ELEVATORS || x ||
 * DATE OF INSTALLATION || x ||
 * PARKING GARAGE || NO ||
 * DESCRIPTION || x ||
 * DATE OF INSTALLATION || x ||
 * NUMBER OF PARKING SPACES || x ||
 * LOT SIZE || 48' x 89.33' ||
 * BUILDING SIZE || 9573 SQUARE FEET ||
 * BUILDING HEIGHT || ? ||
 * RELATIONSHIP TO LOT LINE || UP TO ||
 * ARCHITECT NAME + ADDRESS || RESTORATION ARCHITECT: J. LAWRENCE JONES ASSOCIATES ||
 * BUILDER NAME + ADDRESS || UNKNOWN ||
 * OWNER/DEVELOPER NAME + ADDRESS || ACQUIRED BY HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT 1934 ||



Standing to the east is 267 Henry Street, which was built c. 1834 and is a handsome Georgian Eclectic three-story townhouse with basement. It is a fine example of this style, which was very popular in the early 1900s when the building underwent a major renovation by Buchanan & Fox Architects. Changes to the façade made during the renovation included the removal of the front stoop and relocation of the main entrance to the original service entrance on the basement level. The original door opening was replaced with a third window on the first level. The limestone door hood, lintels and pressed metal cornice were also added at that time. Distinctive characteristics of the façade include ornamental limestone flat arches with keystones and voussoirs, limestone sills at every level and stringcourses at the first floor sill and lintel levels and third floor sill level. Although the buildings still maintain their separate facades, as each was acquired their interior walls were broken through to create a more usable space. In the early years, the nurses lived in small bedrooms on the top floors with offices on the middle floors, while the ground floor housed clinics and meeting rooms. The dining room of No. 267 became a reception and gathering place for both residents of the community and visitors. Among the distinguished guests who visited this room were: Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Addams, Herbert Lehman, Felix Warburg, Jacob Riis, Theodore Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. More than any other in the three buildings, this room retains the grand feeling of the houses' former splendor. Its Greek Revival interior still has most of its original decoration including early raised door and window surrounds complete with corner blocks, as well as plaster ceiling medallions, ionic pilasters, fluted ionic columns, and two black with gold vein marble fireplace mantels.

// (267 Dining Room)  //

On the basement level, the original early-1800 cooking hearth with the bake oven and clean-out was discovered and restored during a major preservation project (1993-1996) under the direction of J. Lawrence Jones & Associates Architects. Another unexpected find was the discovery of the building's original masonry cistern, which was uncovered during stabilization of the rear foundation wall. The cistern is a masonry tank used for storing rainwater for household use. The rainwater collected in the roof gutters is led to the cistern through connections to the downspouts. In-ground cisterns provided the best protection against freezing, kept water at a constant cool temperature and minimized damage from leaks. The project addressed many of the historically significant elements of both the exterior and the interior including the Dining Room, and received the Municipal Arts Society award for Preservation in 1996.

// (267 Hearth) // These buildings that now serve as the Henry Street Settlement's executive offices are designated with the New York City Landmarks Commission and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are also included in the recently designated Lower East Side Historic District. __

AIA GUIDE, pg. 91: Henry Street Settlement: "Federal and Greek Revival town houses now happily served (in altered form) by a distinguished private social agency founded by Lillian Wals (1867 - 1940), who is personally memorialized in the public housing bearing her name between East Houston and East 6th Streets on the river."

[|Landmark, Designated 1966]

The Henry Street Settlement  records document the settlement's work as well as its concerns for social issues in New York City and nationally. While material in the collection dates from 1892 to 2003, the vast bulk of the records documents the Helen Hall years, 1933 to 1967.

The records include: agendas, minutes, correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, financial records and budgets, brochures and newsletters, architectural drawings, maps, photographs, pamphlets, scores, scripts, and scrapbooks. These records describe Henry Street Settlement  's services and programs, including those related to: the arts, child care, camping and youth activities, health care, mental health, senior citizen activities, consumer education, juvenile delinquency, employment programs, adult education, and homelessness. The records also detail the settlement's internal administration. In addition, extensive correspondence files show the settlement's interactions with other persons and organizations, including various city, state, and federal government officials and agencies.

Series 1, Administration, documents the internal workings of the settlement as well as its history, organization, mission, policies, and clientele. The series also includes records from thesettlement's Community Studies Department. The correspondence, questionnaires, reports and related records document a range of social issues and reflect contemporary social work methodology and ideology. Series 2, Services and Programs, consists of the records of the settlement's many permanent programs, such as the arts department and camps; special short-term projects, such as the Pre-Delinquent Gang Project; regular programs that are no longer in operation; and proposals for programs that were never funded.

The Related Organizations series (Series 3) includes records of the organizations which were closely tied with Henry Street administratively or grew out of Henry Street programs. The Organizations, Subjects, and Correspondence series (Series 4) is an alphabetical arrangement of files documenting the people, organizations, and subject areas with which Henry Street was concerned. Series 5 contains scrapbooks that document primarily the Henry Street Music School and the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service. The series also contains some information regarding the settlement in general. Series 6, Memorabilia and Ephemera, consists of individual items or groups of items donated to the Henry Street Settlement  by supporters, former staff, and alumni. The materials document people, events, and programs at the settlement. Series 7 contains grant proposals, applications and reports from the Henry Street Settlement Development Office. These are a rich source of information on a wide range of settlement programs, in particular arts, youth activities, and homeless services. The Henry Street Oral History project records (Series 8) consist of tapes, transcripts or partial summaries, interviewers' reports and conclusions, and release forms. The interviews of current and former settlement staff, program participants, neighborhood residents, and settlement benefactors document people and programs at Henry Street as well as life on New York City's Lower East Side.

Principal correspondents include Lillian D. Wald, Helen Hall, and Bertram M. Beck, all of whom served as the settlement's headworker or executive director. Other settlement employees who are documented in the records include Ralph and Ruth Tefferteller, Susan Jenkins Brown, Karl Hesley, Alwin Nikolais, Atkins Preston, and Leona Gold. The Henry Street Board of Directors included a variety of influential persons including: Herbert H. Lehman, Nicholas Kelley, Felix M. Warburg, James Felt, Mary Dublin Keyserling, A. Fairfield (Allston Fairfield) Dana, and Winslow Carlton. The researcher can also find information regarding other settlement figures, such as Helen M. Harris, Lillian W. (Lillian Wester) Robbins, and Mildred Gutwillig. Paul Underwood Kellogg, Robert Wagner, and Leonard Farbstein also appear.