Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Gutting 207 E. 4th St., onetime home of Bob Arihood

Workers recently started gut renovations at 207 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B... the five-story building is now (presumably) vacant ... 
Posted permits note an interior-exterior renovation for the 15-unit building... no mention of any type of vertical or horizontal extension.

The building last changed hands in 2018 for $3 million, per public records.

No. 207 was also the longtime home of Bob Arihood, a photographer-journalist who lived in a ground-floor unit until he died in 2011

As I wrote at the time:
Bob chronicled the comings and goings of the East Village on Neither More Nor Less. His site was essential viewing every day. He seemed to deem himself a social scientist more than a journalist at times. His work was invaluable for showing the changes in the East Village ...
Thankfully, Neither More Nor Less is still online, and you can view his work here. His other photo site, Nadie Se Conoce, is also online here.  

6 comments:

Laura Goggin said...

I really miss Bob, and think about him a lot. He taught me a new way to look at the world and was always kind and supportive of my endeavors. His portraits of the people of Tompkins and the EV were invaluable and when we lost him, it felt like we lost an entire part of the community. RIP.

Anonymous said...

Christ, is it that long already?

Small comfort, but at least they aren't tearing it down to build another frathouse - I mean, luxury apartment building...

Eden Bee said...

Bob was one of my closest friends and I still miss him everyday.

Anonymous said...

There's a long stretch of Arihood's work that reminds me of Ai Weiwei's East Village photos. Both of them see remarkable people/places that most of us miss, misinterpret, or take for granted. The art in their photos flows from their subjects, and the photographer is there to catch, not take the photo. Looking over Arihood's work now, it strikes me as arguably the best recent history of the neighborhood. Sure, you can read the Villager or Gothamist (or Grieve!) and understand a lot of what's happened here over the few decades but Arihood (and Weiwei for a few years) captures the surface changes _and_ a lot of what the last years have _felt_ like, good, bad, and otherwise.

drew said...

rip bob. so happy you documented this history what a treat it is to revisit. also rip jewels a total pain in the ass but what a soul!

Anonymous said...

I miss Bob. Our talks. His quest for the perfect espresso! His legacy lives in the artists featured in Grieve. He was a "social scientist." Hopefully, a book and film will be coming in the future. He had a soul. And, constantly questioning the role of a photographer and a subject.