Showing posts with label 74 E. 4th St.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 74 E. 4th St.. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

La Mama to celebrate the reopening of its renovated home at 74A E. 4th St.

The La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club family will welcome the return of its renovated original home on Fourth Street with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 9. 

Restoration work has been ongoing the past few years at the landmarked building at 74A E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. (The sidewalk bridge and construction netting were removed back in the fall.) 

La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart bought the building as the off-off-Broadway institution's first permanent home in 1967.
When Ellen Stewart purchased 74 East 4th Street, the building had no roof, no flooring, and no back wall. She founded La MaMa with the belief that space is vital to the creative process and art can be a powerful vehicle for communities to come together. That belief is at the heart of La MaMa’s mission. 

Today, this building that Ellen rescued from demolition decades ago, is a New York City landmark undergoing a major capital renovation. This renovation fundamentally shifts how La MaMa and other arts and cultural organizations interact with their communities across the U.S. and beyond.

ADA accessibility to all floors, an enlarged lobby area, dedicated community space, an outdoor terrace, and a building-wide data network will allow La MaMa to maintain two versatile sound-separated theater spaces that host performances and art experiences as well as create expanded opportunities for community-driven and educational programming. 

We are excited to welcome you into the building. We want you to experience the new spaces, and see how artists and audiences can engage through new models of connectivity that exponentially increase access to the arts for all.
 

Four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein, who got his start at La Mama, recently pledged a matching grant to support 74A.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Restoration watch: 74 E. 4th St., the crown jewel of La Mama's theater community



Checking in on 74 E. Fourth St., where restoration work started this past fall on this landmarked building that's part of the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club family here between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

La Mama bought No. 74 as its first permanent home in 1967.

Built in 1873, the four-story structure was in need of a renovation. Per La Mama, the work will:

• expand and update artist and audience facilities

• bring the building up to ADA compliance, including the installation of an elevator

• upgrade mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and life-safety systems

• restore the historic façade with masonry work in compliance with its landmark status





Off the Grid, the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), had more history of the address in this September 2017 post:

Designed by German-born architect August H. Blankenstein, 74 East 4th Street is known as the Aschenbroedel Verein building. Aschenbroedel Verein was a German-American professional orchestral musician’s social and benevolent association founded in 1860.

By 1866 the society had grown large enough that it purchased this site and eventually built this structure for its use. Aschenbroedel Verein became one of the leading German organizations in Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) on the Lower East Side and boasted among its membership top orchestral musicians in the city at this time.

The GVSHP noted that "this renovation will allow La MaMa, a mainstay of the East Village and the New York City theater community, to continue its mission well into the future."

No. 74 is expected to be ready again for theater use in 2020.