Renovation work is progressing on 105 Washington Street, a six-story former residential building in Manhattan’s Financial District that is being converted to a homeless shelter under the city’s Safe Haven program. Designed by EQ Architecture & Design and developed by The Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), the 97-year-old structure spans 22,088 square feet and will yield 84 housing units. Penta Restoration Corp. is the general contractor for the property, which is located between Carlisle and Rector Streets.
Recent photos show the structure, formerly known as the Downtown Community House, covered in scaffolding and black netting as crews work to restore its Colonial Revival red brick façade and roof. Workers were seen hauling out debris onto garbage trucks as the interiors continue to be gutted.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The below Google Street View image shows the state of the building prior to the start of renovations.
Image via Google Maps
No finalized renderings have been released apart from the following elevation diagram posted on the construction board. The ground-floor frontage will be clad with a new light-colored stone façade, and the flat parapet will feature a terrace lined with metal railings above the sloped roof and dormers.
Photo by Michael Young
105 Washington Street was originally designed by John F. Jackson and constructed using philanthropic funds from William H. Childsin the mid-1920s, when this section of the city was known as Little Syria. The building contained the first public library in Lower Manhattan with 1,000 books, as well as space for clinics, a milk dispensary, an assembly hall, a cooking school, a gymnasium, and a nursery.
The Center for Urban Community Services plans to provide a staff of 37 that will offer primary care, nursing, psychiatric, security, and consultation services, and will give preference to homeless individuals currently living on the streets of Lower Manhattan. The nearest subways from the site are the local 1 train at the Rector Street station along Greenwich Street, and the express 4 and 5 trains along Broadway next to Trinity Church.
105 Washington Street’s anticipated completion date is slated for this fall, as noted on site.
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Good, a homeless shelter in the financial district, a little justice.
Excellent project. Reagan started the homeless crisis by shutting down government funded psychiatric facilities, and the tragedy continues to this day.
It’s also great to see this little pocket of history remain in Downtown. Now we just need dozens more of these projects.
Preach
Great project. This makes me happy.
Anyone know for sure whether the walk up next door is in fact part of the 8 Carisle assemblage? The renderings seem to suggest it is. Anyone been to that Austrian restaurant?
As a resident of said walk-up, we are not part of the 111 parcel, unless something nefarious is going on, which can’t be rule out. And Schilling is quite good. The chef earned a Michelin star for another restaurant of his. Check it out for sure.
I see they have 34 open violations of varying severity.
A quibble… the building was never residential.