The orange building in the middle of the photo below, 65 Mott Street, looks like an ordinary Manhattan tenement.
It lacks a cornice, sure, and a renovation at some point in its history has erased any ornamental features on the facade. But that’s no different to countless other 19th century tenements across the city.
Aside from this, you’d never know that this walkup has one distinction that makes it different from its neighbors.
65 Mott Street “was apparently the very first New York building built specifically to serve as a tenement,” wrote historian Tyler Anbinder in his 2001 book, Five Points—his study of the horrific slum neighborhood this stretch of Mott Street used to be part of.
“Historians have generally cited a building erected on the Lower East Side in 1833 by iron manufacturer James P. Allaire as the city’s first designed tenement…” Anbinder wrote. “But the building at 65 Mott almost certainly predates Allaire’s structure by nearly a decade.”
Anbinder noted that an article in an 1879 trade journal stated that 65 Mott had been occupied for 55 years, which means the tenement was constructed in 1824.
“Its seven stories—a height then unprecedented for a dwelling place—dwarfed the surrounding wooden two-story homes and must have made quite a spectacle when it was first built.”
Tenements, of course, are a New York City invention.
Short for tenant houses, tenements started out as subdivided single-family homes or back houses meant for the city’s growing working-class and poor city residents. (Above, Mott Street in 1911, lined with similar tenements.)
As the city’s population boomed in the first half of the 19th century, unscrupulous builders began constructing substandard multi-family dwellings, knowing they could find plenty of desperate people willing to live in them even thought they lacked basic amenities like natural light and fresh air.
“Tenements built specifically for housing the poor originated at some time between 1820 and 1850….By the end of the Civil War, ‘tenement’ was a term for housing for the urban poor, with well-established connotations for unsafe and unsanitary conditions,” according to NYPL.
From 1868 to 1901, the city enacted a secession of laws mandating that tenements be outfitted with safety features like fire escapes, indoor plumbing, and windows in every room.
Without photos, it’s hard to know when 65 Mott Street was updated and modernized so it looks like any other New York tenement.
A peek inside shows the same kind of tile design in the hallway so common in other late 19th century tenements. Anbinder estimated that the building probably had at least 34 two-room apartments in this 2450-square-foot property.
I wonder if any of the apartments still have bathtubs in the kitchen, or “tuberculosis windows” in the rooms.
[Third photo: George Bain Collection/LOC]
Tags: 19 Century Tenements, 65 Mott Street, Early Tenement New York City, First Tenement in NYC, Five Points Tenement, Mott Street Tenement
Ephemeral New York 
August 12, 2019 at 10:43 am |
Wow, 1824! I had no idea a tenement could have been constructed that early. Surely must have stood out. Also, I have found trade journals to be wonderful primary sources !
August 12, 2019 at 3:15 pm |
Firstly, this building doesn’t date to 1824 because structures, such as apartment buildings weren’t constructed of brick until after the Great Fire of 1835. Also, the architectural features weren’t incorporated into buildings until the mid-late 1840s. Secondly, 65 Mott hasn’t changed much since it was constructed. It didn’t have a cornice or ornamental features on its facade. Look at the 1940 NYC Tax Photo:
https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~5~5~213471~483583?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code&qvq=w4s:/where%2FMott%2BStreet;sort:borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code;lc:NYCMA~5~5&mi=53&trs=187
August 13, 2019 at 1:32 pm |
Good work, but keep in mind lots of cornices had been stripped even as early as 1940. I’m sure this building had something.
April 6, 2024 at 5:20 pm |
There were brick buildings before then (though I know many had brick façades added later). The Mooney House on Bowery and Pell is an example.
As far as cornices, from looking at a lot of Five Points photos and drawings, a five story tenement at 31½ Baxter St., built in the 1850’s, did not have a cornice in older pictures when it was surrounded by old wooden buildings, but in a later photo when new brick buildings surrounded it, it did have a cornice. Many other of those similar 1850’s tenements also didn’t have cornices in the older photos. So cornices seem to be later additions, They originally served as ornate roof gutters, then became just a design feature.
August 15, 2019 at 2:25 pm |
I agree it seems hard to believe that this tenement dates to 1824. But Anbinder is a reputable historian, and his research suggests it does predate the 1835 fire.
April 6, 2024 at 4:13 pm |
I marveled at such a tall building being built that early too! In fact, if that’s true, then in the famous George Catlin drawing of “Five Points” in 1827, if it showed more to the right, the top of the building just may well have appeared in it (above all the little two story dormered row houses that were universal then), as it was basically in that direction. But I started to wonder about Anbinder’s claim. “65 Mott had been occupied for 55 years”. That’s referring to an address, not a building. Most of the addresses then were the little two story buildings with dormered attics. It was in the 1850’s that many of these were modified to have a full third floor with a flat roof, and at the same time, purpose built five and six story tenements were being built en-masse. The fire insurance maps (which only began in the 1850’s), show 65 Mott as having an “alleyway” (marked by an interior brick wall) to the rear court, like many of the houses did. (And that’s now the inside hallway in the photo). So the 65 Mott of 1824 could have still been one of those two or three story houses (generally built from the late 1700’s to the 1830’s) and the upper floors were added later. (So it would still be true that the address was “occupied” in 1824. And also, as others mentioned, there’s the rear tenement as well).
August 23, 2019 at 11:24 am |
I love your blog! I am writing a fiction account of my grandmother’s story who grew up in the LES on Mott STreet (1903-1920). I am looking for the public school she may have attended briefly (1911-ish). Would you have information on the resources I can use to find out this info?
August 23, 2019 at 6:00 pm |
Thanks Antoinette! I would for old NYC directories in Google Books and search the archives of the NYT or newspapers.com. These are good starting places!
August 28, 2019 at 1:22 am |
Somehow 1824 doesn’t seem correct. More like late 1870’s-1910’s. Perhaps it was the “rear” tenement behind this building which was from 1824 having the same address. Those rear tenements were mostly all demolished due to slum clearance after the photos and articles exposed by Jacob Riis. A handful of rear tenement buildings still exist only because buildings next to them were demolished so they had fresh air and light. Airshafts were built at the turn of the 19th century for this purpose, to let in light.
April 29, 2020 at 1:10 pm |
How tall is the rear tenement at 65 Mott Street?
March 21, 2023 at 10:11 pm |
I agree that 1824 seems unlikely, but intriguing. My guess is that a fire resulted in an extensive renovation around the time of the civil war. What is most interesting for me is the number of stories because the tenement laws limited buildings like this to 5 floors I believe
March 25, 2023 at 12:02 am |
In 1824 (or whenever it was built) there were no tenement laws. Is the rear tenement 5 stories or 4?
March 28, 2023 at 9:13 am
The DOB calls out the rear building at 5 floors.
March 28, 2023 at 8:36 pm
Thank you.
April 28, 2023 at 10:25 am |
My first apartment, a walk up on Grand Street Brooklyn NY. 11211 (1978)
A railroad type apartment on 3rd floor.
The commode was hidden in narrow closet, no sink, by the bedroom and the tub was in the kitchen. (First thing you’d see when entering apartment)
The apartment also had one of those service pulley things inside a wall.
The building has since been renovated, exterior now is yellow. I often wonder if tub is still in the kitchen ???
Martha&Joselito