Knickerbocker Village

Knickerbocker Village Limited is a lower-middle class housing development located at 10 Monroe Street in Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City.

Location

The complex is a nondescript enclave of two bare 13-story brick buildings on the Lower East Side, Manhattan at 10 Monroe Street that takes up two whole city blocks bounded by Catherine Street, Monroe Street, Market Street and Cherry Street. Although the location is thought by many to be the Lower East Side, Manhattan it has come to be considered part of Chinatown, New York in recent years. It is located a short distance from The Town Hall, the Civic Centre Areas and the South Street Seaport. The complex is actually situated between the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge, a neighborhood which is sometimes referred to as "Two Bridges". It is located a short distance from the now defunct New York Post distribution plant located at 210 South Street where many of the Bonanno crime family resident mobsters and mob associates worked from the early 1960s until 1992. It is also the childhood home of Richard Cantarella, Anthony Mirra, Albert Embarrato and Joseph D'Amico.

History

The flamboyant real estate magnate Fred F. French began construction of Knickerbocker Village in 1933 and completed it in 1934. Knickerbocker Village was one of the first apartment developments in New York City to receive federal funding, having been completed as a Public Works Administration project, and offered 1,593 small apartments primarily to small middle-income families. When first built, it was considered to be very fancy by residents of other parts of the Lower East Side. In other words, a person who moved from Suffolk Street, for instance, to Knickerbocker Village, was considered to have 'made it' and in some cases, was considered above the residents of the 'older neighborhood'. It was designed to attract middle-class low income families of the time. The building offers two-thirds of its rooms as one bedroom apartments and small kitchens, with the thought that they would have limited use. The building also offers two bedroom suites for its tenants. In the center of the two building complexes that make up Knickerbocker Village have large closed in parks, exclusive to residents of the building. Many of the early residents of Knickerbocker Village were socialists and the residents were very active in demonstrations for the time. The tenants organized clubs with a strong social element in the complex. It offered the activities of its own photography club, a fencing club and was the meeting place for the American Labor Party, The Pioneer Women and Hadassah.

When the United States Congress authorized the RFC to make loans on slum clearance projects, Realtor French picked out the worst block in his holdings and ecstatically presented it to Mr. Jones as a worthy subject for clearance. His choice was "Lung Block," so called because of its high tuberculosis mortality rate. On it lived 650 families. In its backyards were seven jakes. On this fester Mr. French proposed to build a low-cost housing project. Mr. Jones agreed to do business, and RFC lent 85% of the required $9,000.000. Average cost of "Lung Block" to Knickerbocker Village was high: $3,116,000, or $14 per square foot. The tax assessment was therefore reduced by two-thirds to bring the monthly room rental down to the $12.50 stipulated by the RFC. Because the average rental on "Lung Block" had been about $5 a room, Knickerbocker Village remained a low-cost housing project only in the minds of the white collar workers, who proceeded to fill it. There was a cooperatively run Nursery School started by young mothers and wives of returning World War II Veterans.

After fifty years, Fred F. French sold the complex to a new ownership in the 1970s who has now managed the complex for nearly thirty years. Over the last fifteen years the complex underwent extensive renovation and rejuvenation. Almost fifteen million dollars were spent on new windows, new building entrance ways and foyers and waterproofing. The building also has a horticulturist who maintains the extensive gardens in the courtyard located in the center of the building and around the grounds. The complex also offers the "Hamilton Madison House Knickerbocker Village Senior Service Naturally Occurring Retirement Community" (NORC) that offers services and activities for the building's increasing elderly population.

Currently, the tenants are in the midst of a legal battle, as the landlord/corporation attempts to end the middle income protections under Article IV, in place since the complex was built. The landlord/corporation instead urges rent stabilization, which does not offer the same protections or the same promise of sustainment over a long period of time. The landlord/corporation also seeks to raise rents despite $5 million that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation — the state post-9/11 rebuilding agency — granted to the owner last year to keep rents low. This matter has been appealed. see http://www.thevillager.com/villager_176/knickerbockerwin.html.

Notable residents

It was the birthplace and home to many Bonnano crime family mobsters which included Anthony Mirra who lived on the eighth floor until 1982, Benjamin Ruggiero who lived on the seventh floor, Nicholas Marangello, Richard Cantarella, Robert Perrino, John Cersani, Joseph Padavano, Joseph D'Amico and Albert Embarrato. Benjamin Ruggiero rented and maintained an apartment for Joseph Pistone when he was undercover as Donnie Brasco just for when Pistone/Brasco came over for visits. The Bonanno crime family mobsters would invade the labor pool at the neighboring "New York Post" building which led to many being convicted of racketeering. The building also housed Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg on the eleventh floor who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later executed. Additionally, the opera star, Judith Raskin and the author of the autobiographical novel "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" were residents of Knickerbocker Village in the 1950s. Knickerbocker Village was home to a very diverse group of tenants that included civil servants, small business owners with stores on near-by Orchard or Hester Streets; and others who were lucky enough to get find an apartment there during the housing shortage that followed World War II.

References

http://www.knickvill.com/en/aboutus.php

http://www.google.ca/maps?q=10+Monroe+St,+New+York,+NY+10002,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=image

"A History of Housing in New York City" by Richard Plunz

"The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino" by Simon Crittle

External links

* [http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=1455/ Knickerbocker Village, by Phillip Lopate]