Rivington House (45 Rivington Street) is a building located at Rivington Street and Forsyth Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally constructed as an elementary school known as Public School 20 in 1898, and then operated as a vocational school beginning in 1942. In the 1990s, the building was purchased by Village Nursing Home (later VillageCare) and was converted into a specialty nursing home for patients with HIV/AIDS.
The building gained media attention in 2015 when it was planned to lift the deed restriction on the building, allowing it to be transformed into a residential or commercial property. When the building was ultimately sold for $116 million, Mayor Bill de Blasio drew criticism for straying from his policy to increase affordable housing in the city. The building was eventually reclassified and sold to China Vanke Co., Adam America Real Estate, and Slate Property Group for residential development.
Design
The Rivington House is located on the south side of Rivington Street between Forsyth Street and Eldridge Street in the Lower East Side. Across Forsyth Street to the west is Sara Delano Roosevelt Park. The building was constructed from 1897 to 1898, designed by architect C. B. J. Snyder in Renaissance Revival or Romanesque Revival style. Snyder, at the time the city's Superintendent of School Buildings, designed numerous other schools throughout the city. The building is five stories tall, with a basement and a small sixth floor in the center of the building. Its exterior features several decorative elements, including large stone-framed windows, several of which are arched, stone belt courses in between stories, and terracotta moldings. It also features several decorative plaques, including two at the front entrance on Rivington Street representing the New York City government. The interior, meanwhile, contains cast-iron columns with decorative elements.
The building was originally "U"-shaped, which was a common quirk of Snyder-designed schools and other city schools to let in more natural light. The open-space was filled in during the 1990s renovations to the building. It also originally featured a yellow-brick facade, but was later altered with pink-red bricks.
The building was renovated from 1993 to 1994 into a nursing home for HIV/AIDS patients by the Perkins & Will and Davis Brody firms. The first floor features a lobby with reception and gift shop areas, a chapel, a meeting room, administrative space, and an intensive care unit with 17 beds. The remaining four floors each contain around 50 beds along with two nurses stations and dining areas. The fifth or penthouse floor contains additional recreation facilities. A ward for tuberculosis patients was also constructed. The basement contains utilities, kitchen facilities, and labs including a radiology suite. A loading dock was constructed as a southern extension of the original building on Forsyth Street.
Nearby sites
Adath Jeshurun of Jassy Synagogue
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
History
As a school building
Public School 20 was completed in 1898, opening on September 12, 1898. Upon opening, the school was also used as an evening recreation center for children. Alumni of the elementary school include Irving Caesar, George and Ira Gershwin, Harry Golden, Jacob Javitz, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson. In 1934, construction began on Sara Delano Roosevelt Park across the street, which would provide boys and girls playgrounds for Public School 20 and the nearby Public School 91.
Public School 20 was closed in June 1942 due to low enrollment, with the nearby P.S. 91 expanding to replace it. Afterwards, the building became the Manhattan Trades Center and hosted special vocational programs for the New York City Board of Education. This began with a high school program to train radio operators which opened on October 7, 1942. The programs at the school contributed to the United States efforts during World War II, with graduates going on to become technicians and radio operators in the Armed Forces and the Merchant Marine. The school also featured programs to train disabled and vision impaired individuals. Following the end of the war, the Board of Education created accelerated vocational and academic programs at the school for returning veterans.