History of the Seward Park Housing Corporation
The Seward Park Housing Corporation is a cooperative
development, built, owned and operated for the benefit of more than 1,700
families who decided to use the method of mutual self-help to solve their
housing problem. The project was
conceived and completed under the guidance of the United Housing Foundation, a
federation of cooperative housing societies, non-profit organizations and labor
unions interested in promoting better housing through the consumer cooperative
method.
In 1957, the Seward Park Houses became the second Title I
development undertaken by the United Housing Foundation, following the
successful completion in 1956 of the East River Houses, administered by the
East River Housing Corporation, a housing cooperative for 1,672 families which
was financed and sponsored by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
(now known as UNITE!). The East
River Housing cooperative in turn came into being after the completion of the
Hillman Houses, located in the immediate vicinity. The Hillman co-op, for 807 families, was completed in 1950
and was built as a redevelopment Company under the sponsorship of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The same organization was also responsible for the erection of
Amalgamated Dwellings, originally a limited-dividend housing cooperative for
236 families, completed in 1930 under the supervision of the State Board of
Housing of the State of New York. See the recently-discovered
Original
History of SPHC, written in 1961 (12MB).
These four cooperative enterprises legally and financially
operate as separate entities, although they have historically been closely
affiliated. Together, they occupy
the southeast section of the lower part of Manhattan from the East River bend
known as Corlears Hook to Essex Street on the west, Delancey Street on the north
and East Broadway and Cherry Street on the south. The four cooperatives provide homes for approximately 4,400
families and comprise an area of about 32 acres. The Seward Park Housing Corporation was the last member to
be added to the group.
The site of the Seward Park development itself consists of
approximately 13 acres and forms an irregular right triangle, the base of which
is Essex Street on the west. Grand
Street and East Broadway form the other two sides of the triangle, meeting at
an apex where Grand Street and East Broadway intersect, at Ahearn Park.
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History of These 13 Acres
This specific part of New York City has been long the
center of the so-called "melting pot" for newcomers to these shores. It is one of the oldest and most
historic sections in the city. Grand Street was, at one time, a mecca of department stores and other
commercial enterprises. Up to
about a century ago, East Broadway was the neighborhood of the elite of
assimilating immigrants, providing housing and offices for intellectuals and
professionals. Gradually, the
second and third generations of these elite immigrants themselves emigrated to
other parts of the city and surrounding areas, leaving behind the poor, elderly
and infirm. Stripped of the
dynamism and vitality of the younger generations, the neighborhood gradually
deteriorated into a slum.
On November 29, 1957, when title to the site was
transferred to the Seward Park Housing Corporation, there were a total of 219
buildings--a mixture of residential, public, institutional and commercial
structures, many of them in extremely poor condition, having been built in the
mid-to-late 19th century.
These buildings had been constructed primarily of wood and
brick, built back-to-back and side-to-side with no consideration given to
light, air and present-day standards of sanitation. Due to the housing shortage at that time, many abandoned
buildings were pressed into meeting these needs, creating an even more unsavory
and dangerous environment. Disease
(particularly tuberculosis), juvenile delinquency and other crime had established
a fertile breeding ground. A 1956 study
by the New York City Slum Clearance Committee revealed that all 138 residential
buildings fell into one of three categories: "badly run down,"
"deteriorating" and "deteriorated."
At the completion of the development, only two of the
original buildings on the 13-acre site remained: the Bialystoker Home for the Aged, still situated on the
corner of East Broadway and Clinton Street; and the
Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library
on East
Broadway and Jefferson Street, which has recently completed a massive renovation
and restoration.
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Now
After almost three decades, the Seward Park Housing
Corporation (the "Corporation") and its nearly 1728 shareholders
began a process in the late 1980s that would eventually convert the
limited-equity cooperative into a full-equity market-rate residential
co-op. The board and shareholders
voted to advance the payments of the real estate taxes dating back to when the
buildings were first built, and opted for a 10-year payback plan. In 1995, the board put forth to the
shareholders a plan of reconstitution, which essentially was a plan to
privatize the cooperative and remove it from the constraints of governmental
influence.
The shareholders passed the
Plan of Reconstitution
overwhelmingly by about 81%. While initially, the values of apartments were artificially
kept below market rates, over the following five years, the price ceilings were
gradually lifted until they were completely abolished. The apartments in the co-op today trade at market rates.
The conventional wisdom at the time, and currently, was
that by imposing resale taxes (so-called "flip taxes"), the
Corporation could keep maintenance costs low, while generating much-needed
income for repairs, improvements and renovations. Suffice it to say, the Corporation has not had a raise in
maintenance fees, even despite the recent 2002 real estate tax escalation, and
has had the income to complete projects and pursue new ones without imposing
costs directly upon the shareholders.
To date, the Corporation, owned by an increasingly diverse
and persistent group of residents, has undergone numerous changes and continues
to be a jewel on the Lower East Side.
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Recent Capital Improvements
Since reconstitution, the Corporation has undertaken many
capital improvement projects. The
addition of a 24-hour exercise room and refurbished 24-hour laundry rooms in
each building are welcome amenities, as are the various bin storage rooms, that
will start to become available after a waiting list starts and completes
development. New landscaping in all of our green
spaces has greatly improved the look and feel of the property. A new state-of-the-art,
environmentally-friendly steam reducing station allows the
corporation to provide inexpensive and consistent heat and hot water throughout the properties
(See the Links page for the interesting story behind this).
The rebuilding of the underground garage (and the parking lot, park and
playground above it) have recently been completed
– replete with
a new air compressor and
portable battery charger.
(!) The replacement of the ageing elevator cars and systems is already
underway. Construction of covered
bike racks within the protected courtyard gates is also slated to begin
soon.
Other projects in the concept and planning stages are the
renovation of the lobbies and common areas of each residential building. Currently each lobby is dominated by a
distinctive mural by
Hugo Gellert,
which we hope to
restore
and integrate into the new design. Possibilities for the future are roof decks and gardens atop our
20-story residences, as well as the renovation of another of our private
courtyard parks.
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What's in a Name?
Who was William Henry Seward?
The Seward Park Houses derives its name from a
three-and-half acre park and playground which borders upon Essex Street and
East Broadway. This was the first
playground established in the City of New York in 1903
!! It was named after William Henry Seward
who was born in 1801 and served as Governor of New York from 1839 to 1843. He was one of the earliest political
opponents of slavery and and also one of the first to recognize and discuss the
valuable contributions that immigrants would someday make to this country. He favored prison reform,
helping to insert it into the public debate for the first time. He
was a groundbreaker (so to speak) in the use of
public funds for "internal improvements" (now known as "infrastructure").
Though he lived in a remarkably tumultuous time, he was highly and widely
regarded even then for his staunch and creative progressive and humanitarian
views. In 1849, he was elected to the United States Senate, at that time
by the votes of the New York State Assembly. Later, President Abraham Lincoln
selected Seward as his Secretary of State
– despite Seward's status as Lincoln's chief rival (and early frontrunner) at
the preceding Republican convention. Seward also served in the same capacity in the cabinet of
President Andrew Johnson. It was
during this latter administration that he negotiated the purchase of Alaska
from Russia in 1867; originally this decision was derisively called "Seward's
Folly"
–
at least until the discovery of gold in 1890 and other massive deposits
of natural resources, such as oil and natural gas, in the twentieth
century. He died in 1872.
