Thursday, March 7, 2024

A now-and-then look at the former Provident Loan Society on Houston and Essex

Over the years, we've been posting about the former Provident Loan Society building at 225 E. Houston St., on the southwest corner of Essex. 

The circa-1912 building underwent a gut renovation in 2021 and became a broadcast production facility, which has been in business at the address in recent years. However, only the other day did a business sign finally appear above the front entrance for NMP Stages. (Read more about them here.) 

Before becoming an outpost of NMP Stages, the building had been on redevelopment/demolition watch in previous years.

Let's revisit that!

Longtime owners Elsa and Dunnie Lai unveiled plans several years ago — amid neighborhood opposition — to enlarge and convert the property into a 38-unit residential building with a 12-story addition atop the existing bank structure.

What could have been!
Those plans never materialized (the DOB did approve the building permits), but by July 2018, the building went on the market for $20 million as a "prime development opportunity." No. 225 never sold, however.

Before these development plans, a string of clubs and concepts came and went here (Element, the Bank, etc.). The space also served as a studio for Jasper Johns in the 1970s. 

Here are some pics from the NYPL Digital Gallery..... the first photo isn't dated (the Provident Loan Society building is on the right, mostly cut off) ...
And from the Great Depression-era 1935... you can see the unmarked truck parked near a hydrant, ready to clog the sidewalk with Amazon packages for locals killing off the area haberdashers ...

13 comments:

  1. How did people manage without painted lines and plastic sticks to tell them where to drive/ride/walk? Scary. I like things better now—it’s more like a grade 3 classroom out there. They should have people giving out gold stars to those who obey the rules.

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  2. It was a very cool space, wondering why no nightclub was ever able to achieve success here....

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    Replies
    1. Think the BANK was there a while …

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    2. Wasn't it Chaos back in the 90s?

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  3. The average driver probably isn't much smarter than your average third-grader, but, unlike your average third-grader, they can (and do) kill people easily.

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  4. Fond 90's memories of seeing shows at The Bank!

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  5. “ready to clog the sidewalk with Amazon packages for locals killing off the area haberdashers ...”
    😂

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  6. I also love the fact that the building next to it is still standing.

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  7. to March 7, 9:20 AM

    And a nun with a yardstick thwacking those who don't.

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  8. Very informative post that unfortunately includes one of my pet grammar peeves. "Circa" means around or about or approximately. This building was not built "circa" 1912; it was built in 1912. I know it sounds fancier to say "circa," but it's wrong.

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  9. Unless the building was built in only one year, the circa is correct. Pedant

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  10. For some reason, I started thinking about "Make a Circuit With Me" by the Polecats from 1982. (Circa + Circuit = Random.) The band was part of the UK rockabilly revival in the early 1980s, and a good request to make of the Key Food playlist. (Stacie!)

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  11. "Unless the building was built in only one year, the circa is correct."

    No, it's not. It would then be correct to say that construction began in 1912 (although all evidence suggests it ended the same year). Circa is for dates you can't pinpoint, not for spans of time.

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