Labor Day, 1968

For the Record readers are invited to take a virtual trip back to September 2, 1968, when New York Police Department photographers filmed the Labor Day parade. Nearly 100 floats with an eclectic array of unionized workers, including stage-hands, burlesque dancers, and a llama (union affiliation unclear) participated in what the New York Times described as “. . . just a nice sunny day for a parade.” [September 3, 1968].    

Last week For the Record highlighted the related NYPD Handschu Collection and featured NYPD footage in previous articles, NYPD Surveillance Films and NYPD Surveillance of Organized Labor.     

For the Record extends best wishes to everyone for an enjoyable Labor Day weekend.

The Handschu Collection

The Municipal Archives recently completed processing a significant portion of the New York Police Department Intelligence Unit records. Also known as the “Handschu” collection, the material totals 560 cubic feet and dates from 1930 to 2013. This exceptional material has already supported dozens of research projects. Processing and publication of the finding guide will expand its utility and encourage further exploration of important events and people during a significant period of American history. This week’s article will highlight the unusual origin of the collection and summarize series contents.

NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

Most record collections are accessioned into the Municipal Archives in accordance with an official “retention schedule.” This document is created by DORIS record analysts. It specifies how long a series remains accessible to the record-creators in-house, and how long the records are maintained in an off-site storage facility (and retrieved by the record creators when needed). The schedule also indicates if the series has been designated as having long-term historical/archival value, and when it should be transferred to Municipal Archives for permanent preservation. If the record series does not have historical/archival value, it is disposed when it is no longer needed by the creating agency. Schedules are approved by the relevant agency Commissioner, DORIS Commissioner, and the Law Department.

Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) identification record, 1963. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Handschu collection, however, experienced a somewhat different trajectory to the Archives. The New York Police Department (NYPD) Intelligence Unit can be traced back to early decades of the twentieth century when police began investigating anarchists and other people and organizations thought to be a danger to public safety. During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the NYPD Bureau of Special Services (BOSSI), called the Bureau of Special Services after 1971, investigated the Communist Party and organizations like the Black Panthers, Nation of Islam, and the Nazi Party. They monitored labor disputes, provided security detail for various dignitaries, secured information relating to political or social activities of individuals or groups seen as a threat, and cooperated with investigations conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization Services and other federal agencies. To support information gathering, the NYPD engaged in infiltration, wiretapping, and gathered information at events. Their tactics included overt and hidden photography, eavesdropping, and filming of various suspects and events.

In 1971, New York prosecutors tried members of the Black Panther Party for conspiring to blow up police stations and department stores. Evidence presented during the trial revealed the NYPD had infiltrated and kept dossiers on not only the Black Panthers but also on anti-war groups and other activists and civic organizations. The jury acquitted the Panthers after 90 minutes of deliberation.

Black Panther Party, free breakfast poster, n.d. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

Shortly after the acquittal, attorney Barbara Handschu, and others affiliated with various political organizations filed a lawsuit against the City of New York. The plaintiffs claimed that NYPD “informers and infiltrators provoked, solicited and induced members of lawful political and social groups to engage in unlawful activities.” They also alleged that the NYPD maintained files about “persons, places, and activities entirely unrelated to legitimate law enforcement purposes, such as those attending meetings of lawful organizations.” The case, known as Handschu v. Special Services Division was affirmed as a class action suit in 1979.

Environmental protest, 1967. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

In March 1985, federal judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. approved a settlement. It restricted surveillance of political activity by the NYPD. He agreed that  surveillance of political activity violated constitutional protections of free speech. His ruling resulted in a consent decree which prohibited the NYPD from engaging “in any investigation of political activity except through the … Intelligence Division [of the Police Department]” and then only in response to suspected criminal activity. The decree required that any investigations shall be conducted only in accordance with the Guidelines incorporated into the Decree.

“Files” is the important word in the above narrative. In September 1989, Judge Haight appointed Joseph Settani, a certified records manager, and former DORIS staff member, to audit records created by the NYPD’s Intelligence Division. Settani identified the records by series and created a retention schedule that designated the material as having permanent historical/archival value. In accordance with that schedule, the NYPD transferred the records to DORIS' Municipal Records Center in 2008-2009. In further accordance to the schedule, the Municipal Archives accessioned the collection in 2015. Archivists conducted surveys of the series in 2016, and formal processing began the following year and continued until February 2024.

The New York Police Department Intelligence Unit records is comprised of two groups of similar records: (ACC-2015-022) New York Police Department Intelligence Unit records, circa 1930-1990, and (ACC-2018-014) New York Police Department Intelligence Unit records (“Handschu, part 2”), circa 1960-2013.

Subgroup 1 is arranged into ten series.

Columbia University, student protests, 1968. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

1.1 Photograph files, 1961-1972, 16 c.f. Surveillance images of events and demonstrations, including the Columbia University protests in 1968, the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, civil rights rallies, and anti-war demonstrations. It also includes images of foreign dignitaries' visits and surveillance taken during covert operations. 

1.2 Numbered communication files, 1951-1972, 99 c.f. 

Numbered police reports addressed to the police commissioner. The reports detail surveillance and investigation activities. The files contain both drafts and final reports.

1.3 Columbia University disturbance files, 1968-1970, 2.75 c.f. 

Records related to the protests that took place at Columbia University during April and May 1968, including newspaper clippings, press releases, injury claims filed by students, letters received protesting police brutality, statistical data outlining arrests and injuries, and numerous photos and reports of areas affected by the protests. 

1.4 Small organizations files, 1955-1973, 24. 5 c.f. 

“Small Organizations” refers to the extent of material on a particular topic or organization rather than the size of that group.

1.5 Large organizations files, circa 1934-1990, bulk: 1955-1973 

“Large Organizations” refers to the extent of material on a particular topic or organization rather than the size of the group. Organizations documented include the Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the East Coast Homophile Organization (ECHO). Events documented in this series include the Harlem “riots” of 1964 and the March on Washington (1963).

1.6 Individuals files, 1931-1973, 18.5 c.f. 

Documents pertaining to national and international personalities, Hollywood celebrities, politicians, and activists. Types of materials range from newspaper clippings to extensive surveillance and wiretaps.

1.7 Hard Hat demonstration files, 1968-1970, 1981-1985, 11 c.f. 

Hard Hat Riots, May 8, 1970. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

Records related to the May 8, 1970 riots in lower Manhattan during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration and memorial for the four students shot and killed at Kent State in Ohio. Consists of documents created in the months following the riots including reports, interviews, NYPD roll calls and rosters, forms, and newspaper clippings.

1.8 Index cards, 1960-1973, 200 c.f. 

Index cards of people and organizations surveilled by NYPD between 1960-1973.

1.9 Binder master lists, 1986-1987, 11 c.f. 

Binders contain name indexes of individuals, organizations, and events listed throughout the collection. The indexes were printed out on a dot matrix printer. There are three groups of binders; one group corresponds to Small Organizations Files otherwise known as Organization 1; Organization 2 corresponds to the Large Organizations Files; and the last grouping is a binder that serves as a master list for all organization names, photographs listed, and individuals in the collection. The indexes can include last name, first name, and page numbers the names are referenced in.

1.10 Audiovisual material, 1959-1971 3 c.f. 

There are two subseries:1.10.1 includes a/v material maintained by the New York Police Department (NYPD); and 1.10.2 consists of items separated from other series in the collection and removed for reformatting and preservation.

Sister Marlane, candidate for governor of New York, 1969. NYPD Intelligence Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

The second subgroup, ACC-2018-014) has content similar to the first group, but date from a later time period, generally 1960 through about 2013. There is documentation on organizations such as Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), Black Liberation Army (BLA), Jewish Defense League, Black Panther Party, Students for a Democratic Society, the Ku Klux Klan, and more. Many of the later records document the surveillance of Muslim individuals and communities in New York City. Other records concern surveillance of and NYPD preparation for significant events like the Republican National Convention (2004), Democratic National Convention (1992), the Presidential inauguration of George W. Bush, and the Million Youth March. There are also documents related to court cases concerning NYPD surveillance of private citizens and social/political organizations, including Raza v. City of New York (2013), the Matter of Fernandez v. The New York Police Department (2014), Handschu v. Special Services Division (1985), as well as the NYPD's role in the investigation, arrest, and federal criminal trial of Ahmad Wais Afzali. This material has not been processed.

For the Record has referenced the Handchu collection in several previous articles. Most recently, Finding Bayard Rustin, explored how records in the collection documented Rustin’s influence on some of the most successful demonstrations in civil rights history.  Finding Marsha P. Johnson celebrated gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson’s influence on New York City history using materials from Handschu.  The Playboy Plot told the bizarre story of how Cuban Nationalists plotted to fire bazookas at the Playboy Club, based on records in the collection. NYPD Surveillance Films highlighted newly digitized film footage from the collection.

Researchers are encouraged to explore the newly processed materials.

Bring the $5M with you. Two Eagles and a Post Office

Eighty-six years ago today, on August 16, 1938, The New York Times reported “Demolition Begun at Old Post Office.” What brought us to this seemingly benign newspaper story?     

Old Post Office Building, North from Vesey Street and Broadway, June 23, 1937. Savastano Photographic Studio, Borough President Manhattan collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Like many stories in twentieth-century New York City, Robert Moses, the legendary “Power Broker,” played a role. Among Moses’ notable attributes examined in several For the Record articles was his mastery of public relations. He issued press releases, contributed articles, and wrote “letters to the editor.” He especially liked to publish reports promoting his accomplishments. Literate, illustrated with striking graphics and ‘before-and-after' pictures and charts, commercially printed, and widely distributed, his numerous reports are well-represented in Municipal Archives and Library collections.

The 1941 report Construction and Restoration of Monuments, Memorials and Historic Buildings included an entry about the Grant National Memorial. Located in Manhattan’s Claremont Park on a high bluff overlooking the Hudson River, the Memorial, then called “Grant’s Tomb,” had been “the largest and most frequently visited monument in the United States with an attendance of approximately 1,000 people a day,” according to the report. Describing recent improvements to the Monument, the report concluded: “As a further embellishment of the approach to the building, two of the large granite eagles from the old Post Office building in City Hall Park were installed on new pedestals on the cheeks of the stairway.”  That seemed like a fun fact too good to ignore.

Old Post Office from Spruce Street, June 20, 1937. Savastano Photographic Studio, Borough President Manhattan collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The New York Post Office - Views of the New Building, from sketches by Theo. R. Davis, Harper's Weekly, September 25, 1875

The New York Post Office - Views of the New Building, from sketches by Theo. R. Davis, Harper's Weekly, September 25, 1875

Would Municipal Archives and Library collections tell us more about how and why two granite eagles wound up guarding General Grant’s monument?  Well, maybe. But like many research expeditions, this journey went in an unanticipated direction.

“The Department of Parks of the City of New York Cordially Invites You to Attend the Ceremonies Incident to Commencement of Demolition of the Old Federal Post Office and Court Building in City Hall Park, 4 P.M. Monday, August 15th 1938.” Printed on heavy card stock, the invitation slipped out of a folder in Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's subject files—one of six labeled “Post Office, Removal of, 1927-1944.” 

Invitation to Commencement of Demolition of the Old Federal Post Office, 1938. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

An invitation to a building demolition?  What building rated a “ceremony” upon its demise? Walking around City Hall Park today it seems impossible to believe that an enormous building once stood at the southernmost point. Designed in the Second Empire style by Alfred Muller, and constructed ca.1869-1870, it loomed over the relatively diminutive City Hall. Its massive scale is startling, even in photographs.

Old Post Office Building South from City Hall, December 4, 1937. Savastano Photographic Studio, Borough President Manhattan collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Long considered an ‘eyesore,’ calls for its removal dated back decades as evidenced by records in Mayor LaGuardia’s collection. Indeed, the first folder contained letters addressed to his predecessor, Mayor James J. Walker. They referenced a Congressional Resolution from 1922 authorizing a Commission to investigate exchanging the site occupied by the Post Office in City Hall Park for another site or sites suitable for a new Post Office and Federal Court. The letters questioned the five-year delay in acting on the “exchange.” Other documents point to 1919 when a Board of Estimate “Committee on Court House” entered into negotiations with the Federal government to remove the Post Office and return its site to the City.

Parks Department, Plan for the Development of City Hall Park, n.d. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

The subsequent correspondence documents a saga spanning more than twenty years as the City and Federal governments conducted complex and protracted negotiations to replace the old Post Office. It even involved the intervention of President Roosevelt at several critical junctures.

Eventually, City and Federal officials worked out agreements for a new Federal Court building that opened in 1936 at Foley Square, and a new Post Office on Church Street that was completed in 1937.

When the Post Office moved to the new quarters in October 1937, negotiations regarding what to do with the old Post Office stalled. Among the issues to be worked-out was a $5 million payment the Federal government believed it was due for relinquishing the City Hall Park site. 

By December 1937, Mayor LaGuardia, having made no progress in negotiating with the Treasury Department, sent a telegram to President Roosevelt. “I am certain matter can be promptly settled rather than involving long tedious and unnecessary litigation. Stop. I will call any time to meet your convenience. December 14, 1937.”  

Aerial View, City Hall Park, n.d. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia photograph collection, NYC Municipal Archives. 

The next day, Roosevelt replied in a letter marked ‘Personal.’ “Dear Fiorello: I have your telegram of December 14th before me. I gather from the same that the Secretary of the Treasury is out-trading you. If you insist on seeing “teacher” I wish to warn that “teacher” can be tougher than the Secretary of the Treasury.” Sincerely Yours, FDR.” He added a handwritten postscript: “Bring the $5,000,000 with you.”

It is not clear whether the meeting ever happened. But by mid-1938, with negotiations still proceeding apparently without conclusion, a compromise was proposed. LaGuardia described it at a special meeting of the Board of Estimate on May 20, where he requested approval of a “stipulation” between the City of New York and the United States government. The stipulation said the Federal government will dispose of the old Post Office building by sale; that the City may bid upon it; condition of sale being that the “purchaser will demolish the building.” LaGuardia added that this would not cancel impending litigation over the $5 million payment.

It took several months for the Federal authorities to conduct the sale; it happened on August 3, 1938. The City “won” the sale with a bid of one dollar. Then, finally, “Demolition Begun at Old Post Office” read The New York Times story on August 16, 1938, describing the event on the previous day. 

According to the article, Allyn R. Jennings, Superintendent of Parks, presided at the demolition ceremonies attended by 1,000 people. The news story quoted him as saying the city should have received change from the dollar paid for the building because the Federal Government “backed up a truck recently and took away every doorknob in the building.” One, retrieved, was mounted as a paperweight and presented to the Mayor.

Old Post Office Building North from South of Vesey Street, December 12, 1937. Savastano Photographic Studio, Borough President Manhattan collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Not surprisingly, Robert Moses inserted himself into the proceedings at various times, eager to demolish the old Post Office in order to restore City Hall Park in time for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Once the building was gone, he wasted no time in advocating for the demolition of the old ‘Tweed’ courthouse, located on the north side of the Park.

Request to serve as "honorary pallbearer," H. L Brant to Mayor LaGuardia, August 12, 1938. Mayor LaGuardia collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

An unexpected find in the files was a letter from George J. Miller, Director of the Historical Records Survey in N.Y.C. Dated October 1, 1937, and written on Works Progress Administration stationery, Mr. Miller informed the Mayor: “In our survey of the records of New York City, the conclusion is becoming more and more apparent that there is very little care or order taken with a large mass of New York records. We find them scattered in garages with broken windows through which the rain gives them a washing. In the Municipal Building we found a gallon can of turpentine upon its side gently gripping on records of Wills in 1686.”

Miller’s letter continues with a proposition: “A thought came to our attention that perhaps the Post Office Building could be utilized as an Archives Building to store all records. If the intention to raze the building is carried out, I feel that the problem of a City Archives Building will have to be solved some time in the future by erecting a new building.” Edmund L. Palmieri, Law Secretary, politely responded on behalf of the Mayor, explaining that “the pressure of budgetary matters and the necessity of carrying on a heavy assignment of routine duties” prevented LaGuardia from answering personally. Palmieri promised he would bring the Archives building idea to his attention. Perhaps it is for the best that LaGuardia did not act on this suggestion. 

United States Attorney General to Mayor LaGuardia, May 12, 1943. Mayor LaGuardia collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The story continued even after the old Post Office came down. As noted by Mayor LaGuardia when explaining the ‘stipulation,’ demolition of the Post Office would not cancel litigation between the City and the Federal government. Based on documents in LaGuardia’s files, the dispute continued until at least 1943. On May 21, 1943, LaGuardia sent a check in the amount of $4,288,856.66 to the Office of the United State Attorney General as “payment on account of the judgment entered against the City of New York.” Further research will determine the ultimate conclusion of the matter.

And our two eagles now glaring at visitors to General Grant’s memorial?  Will we ever know anything more about their flight from City Hall Park to Claremont Park?  Stay tuned for the answer in a future For the Record post.

Notes from Eleanor

Defying archival practices, at some point the Department of Records and Information Services created a “Special Collection” which consists of historical City government records separated from a variety of other collections. Organized alphabetically, the trove is a hodge-podge of important documents including a 1728 petition to establish a Jewish burial ground, and a 1765 letter to restore peace from British General Thomas Gage.

This arrangement highlights the shortcomings of the Special Collection. Nothing is where it belongs! If processed and filed following normal archival practices, the letters would be in folders of correspondence related to the subjects, organized by year. This would make it possible for a researcher to trace the back and forth between letters received and responses sent.   

Photo illustration, This I Remember, by Eleanor Roosevelt, Harper & Brothers, 1949. Municipal Library

Within the Special Collection is a folder labeled Roosevelt, Eleanor. It contains correspondence written to and from Eleanor Roosevelt dating from 1924 to 1945. The 1924 letter is on stationery from the Women’s Division of the Democratic State Committee. The stationery lists a who’s who of prominent Democratic women including Miss Frances Perkins and Miss Lillian Wald. The letter is written by Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs John F. Hylan, resident of St. Marks Avenue in Brooklyn, who was married to Mayor John Hylan. The letter introduced Mrs. Pounds who was setting up the Democratic Women’s Booth at an upcoming event. DORIS currently has an initiative to provide the actual names of women, not simply their married names. Today the metadata for the letter would include a reference to Marian O’Hara Hylan.   

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

An odd item in the folder is not correspondence—it’s a first day of issue envelope dated April 24 1972, honoring Fiorello LaGuardia. 

First Day Issue, Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

All together, there are 44 pieces of correspondence; 39 are from Eleanor Roosevelt to Fiorello LaGuardia; three are from LaGuardia to Roosevelt, one is from Roosevelt’s secretary and one letter to Mrs. Hylan. Written on heavy 6” x 9” paper, the Roosevelt-LaGuardia notes date from April 9, 1935 to October 7, 1945. Most are typed on White House notepaper with a hand-written signature at the bottom. Some contain penciled notations with instructions from the Mayor. For example, the first note informs the Mayor that Eric Gugler, an architect who remodeled the West Wing of the White House also has a plan for a war memorial for Battery Park. Eleanor Roosevelt suggested that “it might interest you because of what could be done to improve that part of the city at a very small cost.” Scrawled at the top are the instructions from Mayor LaGuardia to staff: “ask Jonas Lie to look at this.”   

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Who, you might ask, is Jonas Lie? Born in Norway, he moved to the United States in 1893 and trained at the Art Student League. An Impressionist landscape painter, he specialized in coastal scenes, New York City scenes and, famously at the time, a series of paintings depicting the construction of the Panama Canal. He was also a member of the Art Commission. Did Lie check out the exhibit and vet the architect?  We don’t know but we do know that the memorial to World War 1 soldiers was not built.

Many of Eleanor’s notes are banal, part of the give and take of government. They convey information about people looking for work, express gratitude for Birthday wishes, invite attendance at events. Most begin with the salutation, “My Dear Mr. Mayor:” One interesting missive was not written to the Mayor but to Mrs. LaGuardia (aka Marie Fisher LaGuardia) and signed not by Eleanor but by her secretary, Edith Helm, aka Mrs. James M. Helm. The letter expressed concern that an earlier note inviting the couple to stay overnight at the White House went astray and reiterated the offer of a sleepover.  Did that actually occur?  

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

A duo of notes inviting the LaGuardia family for lunch and a little party and then responding back to the Mayor, expressing understanding that the children’s bed time schedule would dictate how late they could stay at Hyde Park.

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Photo illustration, This I Remember, by Eleanor Roosevelt, Harper & Brothers, 1949. Municipal Library.

Some are oblique: “I am enclosing a letter which has come to me and would appreciate it if you could look into the matter.”  We likely will never know the matter that aroused Eleanor Roosevelt’s interest on July 16, 1940. 

One note from August, 1940 generates curiosity.  “I am very anxious to have a talk with you and Mr. Flynn tells me that we had better talk in some quiet place,” it begins.  One presumes the reference is to Boss of the Bronx Edward Flynn, a strong supporter of President Roosevelt and, in 1940, the national chair of the Democratic Party.  The note continues, suggesting a visit that would require the Mayor to “climb three flights of stairs to have tea with me at my apartment, 20 East 11th Street (Miss Thompson’s name is on the bell…”  It was clearly urgent because Eleanor Roosevelt offered an alternative date when she would be back in town.  A handwritten date at the bottom, written by someone at City Hall, states “Sept 4 –“  So, presumably, the conversation happened.  

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

In August, 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt became an Assistant Director in the Office of Civil Defense, based in Washington. A September 1941 note to LaGuardia explained her approach to familiarizing herself with the organization and stated her intention, with LaGuardia’s permission, to visit the offices on Monday.

Her tenure at Civil Defense was short. Due to criticism of the President’s wife holding a position in government, she resigned in February, 1942.

One exchange of correspondence in August 1943 clearly concerns racial unrest in the City. Early that month, a white police officer shot a black soldier in Harlem.  Rumors that the soldier had been killed lit the fuse on simmering tensions over price gouging, lack of economic opportunity, discrimination and police brutality. Over two days, six black people were killed, more than 500 injured, thousands arrested and millions in property damage. Eleanor Roosevelt weighed in with a much longer note than any of the others.  Referencing her conversations with black residents of the City, she suggested hiring more black police officers, finding more summer employment for young people and expanding supervised play for the youngest residents. Further, she reported there was “a feeling that white policemen are unnecessarily harsh to young colored people.” 

This letter struck a chord. Famously pugnacious, Mayor LaGuardia responded with two single-spaced, double-sided missives in defense of the City’s efforts, dated only a day apart. Citing “lies, lies, lies and more lies concerning the situation” LaGuardia wrote that despite recruitment efforts the number of black police officers on the force had only increased by twenty since 1933 only twenty new  black police officers joined the force between 1933 and 1943. 

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The final note in the folder dated October 7, 1945 does not use White House note paper but instead is from a New York City address on Washington Square. Written in response to LaGuardia’s request, it enclosed a pass for a Senator Farley to visit the Hyde Park grave of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had died on April 12, 1945 and instructed that further requests be sent to the Department of the Interior.  

Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, Special Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Manhattan Building Plans – Project Update

In 2018, with support from the New York State Library Conservation/Preservation Program, the Municipal Archives commenced a project to preserve and re-house approximately 100,000 architectural drawings and reproductions of buildings in lower Manhattan. Dating from 1866 through the 1970s, the plans comprise sections, elevations, floor plans, and details, as well as engineering and structural diagrams of buildings on 958 blocks in Manhattan from the Battery to 34th Street.  

In the first year, project archivists cataloged and re-housed 11,882 plans for 977 buildings in the Tribeca and SoHo neighborhoods. With continued State Library support in 2021/22, the Archives preserved more than 18,000 plans for buildings in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. 

For the Record has described project progress in several articles. Re-discovering the Old Pennsylvania Station highlighted original plans of the iconic building found in the collection. The Curious Case of the Lighting of the Williamsburg Bridge told the story of an experiment to power lighting for school buildings via a trash incinerator. Stables and Auction Marts: Building Plans with Horses detailed the significance of horses in 19th and early 20th century New York City. And Loew's Canal Street Theater featured the plans for the ornate Loew’s Theater on Canal Street.

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26 Ridge Street, ca. 1940. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Project archivists recently completed preservation and re-housing 11,350 plans for buildings in the Lower East Side and East Village with support from the State Library.  This week, For the Record explores some of the interesting “finds” identified over the course of the project.

The Lower East Side and East Village have long been recognized as iconic neighborhoods to which millions of Americans can trace their roots. Their streetscapes have served as a backdrop for countless books, films and stories that chronicle the experience of generations of newcomers to the United States from around the world.

Plans preserved over the course of the project illustrate how these communities developed with examples of buildings of all types necessary for a thriving neighborhood. They include every style of residential building—from simple “tenements,” and more modern apartment buildings, to elegant single-family townhouses. Plans of retail establishments, banks, hotels, houses of worship, entertainment venues, bathhouses, factories, warehouses, boardinghouses, stables, garages—are also evident in abundance.

The Department of Buildings practice of requiring plans to be filed when issuing permits to build new buildings or to alter existing structures began in the late 1880s. This coincided with a period of intense immigration to the United States by Eastern European Jews who settled in the Lower East Side neighborhood; consequently, the collection is particularly rich in drawings reflecting those immigrant communities. 

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Religious institutions: 

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242 East 7th Street, cross section. Gross & Kleinberger, architects. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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242 East 7th Street, auditorium and balcony plans. Gross & Kleinberger, architects. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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242 East 7th Street, ca. 1940. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 376 Lot 13 

Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Anshe Ungarin (Great House of Study of the People of Hungary), designed by the firm of Gross & Kleinberger, this synagogue was built in 1908 at 242 East 7th Street, after the congregation had grown too large for its previous site. The second image shows seating in the auditorium and balcony. 

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172 Norfolk Street, plan for Russian and Turkish baths. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 355 Lot 4 

Hand-drawn plan for another Hungarian synagogue located at 172 Norfolk Street; this alteration drawing from 1893 shows the building had Turkish and Russian baths, and dressing rooms on the lower floors. 

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26 Ridge Street. front elevation. Frederick Ebeling, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 341 Lot 38   

A synagogue built in 1906, architect Frederick Ebeling, owned by Congregation Thebat Achim, and located at 26 Ridge Street; the front elevation plan shows an onion dome and a Star of David lunette.  

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Housing: 

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58-62 Hester Street, Longitudinal Section, Tenement House for Cortlandt Bishop, Esq. Ernest Flagg, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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58-62 Hester Street, Ground Floor, Tenemant House for Cortlandt Bishop, Esq. Ernest Flagg, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 298 Lot 15  

1901 new build drawings for a “Model Tenement” by architect Ernest Flagg, located at 58-62 Hester Street; a longitudinal drawing featuring the building’s central staircase and a detail of the ground floor showing that although each apartment had its own “W.C,” showers and baths were shared spaces. 

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128 Broome Street, elevation. Michael Bernstein, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives. Some of the architectural flourishes were never built or were gone by the 1940s.

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128 Broome Street, ca. 1940. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 337, Lot 1 

An apartment building at 128 Broome Street at the corner with Pitt Street; built in 1899 by architect Michael Bernstein, the façade has lovely detail work. 

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88 Ridge Street, Front Elevation, East Side of Ridge Street. Charles B. Meyers, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 343 Lot 43 

80-82, 84-86, 88 Ridge Street; three adjacent 6-story brick tenements with stores on the ground floors and a shared tin roof and façade; built in 1892, architect Charles B. Meyers.

Architects Bernstein and Meyers are ubiquitous names in the Buildings Plans Collection, as they were prolific during the tenement housing boom.

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Services and businesses: 

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New Closet Building at Grammar School No. 4, 203 Rivington Street, 1894. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 343 Lot 50 

“New Closet Building” for Grammar School No. 4 from 1894, located at 203 Rivington Street. The drawing shows the old water closet facilities on the left and the much larger expansion facility, in the center a necessary alteration to keep up with the burgeoning population. Also notable are the separate “yards” for girls and boys. 

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101 Broome Street, coal bunker. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 336 Lot 43 

More people meant a greater need for fuel. This is an interesting drawing of the interior of a concrete coal bunker featuring track and hopper; located at 101 Broome Street, built in 1907. 

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Bank of Max Kobre, elevation. Benjamin W. Levitan, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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41 Canal Street, ca. 1940. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 298 Lot 33 

The Bank of Max Kobre, built in 1911, located at 41 Canal Street, was one of many privately owned “immigrant” banks that held deposits, made loans, and brokered steamship tickets to the community. The 1940 Tax Photograph shows it had become a funeral home, the Zion Memorial Chapel.

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81-81 ½ Bowery, elevation. Samuel Sass, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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81-81 ½ Bowery, interior balcony and staircase. Samuel Sass, architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 303 Lot 9 

Delicate 1909 alteration plans by architect Samuel Sass, showing signage and interior staircase for Shulman’s Clothing Store located at 81-81 ½ Bowery. 

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Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

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Williamsburg Bridge, view showing fish market, south entrance [Delancey] and Pitt Street. February 20, 1925. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

 Block 337 Lot 9 

1924 plan showing signage and zinc-lined wood tank for the Wenig Live Fish Company, located at 36 Pitt Street. A building that was photographed by Eugene de Salignac in 1925.

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19 Ludlow Street, plan for a “Rockwell Matzoth Oven.” Max Muller Architect. Department of Buildings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Block 298 Lot 24 

Colorful drawing for a “Rockwell Matzoth Oven” to be installed at 19 Ludlow Street in 1923; architect Max Muller’s name is seen on many plans for buildings on the Lower East Side.