Building:

The 1970 mural is on the side of 232 East Broadway, and states: "Our strength is our heritage. Our heritage is our life".  This mural represents major concerns of the Jewish community on the Lower East Side.     

 

History of Site:

The Bilaystoker Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, # 228-230 East Broadway, was chartered in 1864 as NY's first landmanshaft and provides care to the elderly and the community. Buildings along East Broadway were condemned and then torn down in 1929.  Construction began on the current building at the site, which appears to have been completed in 1931. The space was then used by Floating Hospital Inc., who’s mission was to improve the health and welfare of New York City's underserved, high-risk populations through the provision of integrated and innovative health education, health care and social services.

 

The Bialystoker building has been rented out by the Educational Alliance, sponsors of HB IV New York.

 

Listed Landlord:

Bialystoker Nursing Home laesed by The Educational Alliance

 

Neighborhood

The Lower East Side is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen St., E. Houston, Essex St., Canal St., Eldridge St., E. Broadway, and Grand St. It has traditionally been an immigrant, working class neighborhood, but it has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years, prompting The National Trust for Historic Preservation to place the neighborhood on their list of America's Most Endangered Places. [2]

 

One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been known as a lower-class worker neighborhood and often as a poor and diverse part of New York. Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups have all called the Lower East Side home.  Tt once had a sizeable German population and was known as Little Germany (Kleindeutschland).

 

The Lower East Side is perhaps best known as having once been a center of Jewish culture. In her 2000 book Lower East Side memories: A Jewish place in America, Hasia Diner explains that the Lower East Side is especially remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings in contemporary American Jewish culture. The Lower East Side was the home to many Yiddish theatre productions during the early part of the 20th century, and Second Avenue came to be known as 'Yiddish Broadway', though most of the theaters are gone. More recently, it has been settled by immigrants, primarily from Latin America.

 

An incoming Chinese population has also made their mark on the Lower East Side in recent decades. The part of the neighborhood south of Delancey Street and west of Allen Street has in large measure become part of Chinatown, and Grand Street is one of the major business and shopping streets of Chinatown. Also contained within the neighborhood are strips of lighting and restaurant supply shops on the Bowery.

 

* Majority of historical information provided taken directly from Wikipedia.

 

About:

 

HomeBase IV New York is taking place in a former medical center in the Lower East Side, 232 East Broadway. The project will be open to the public from May 9th – 24th at 232 E. Broadway , Wednesdays through Sundays from 12:00-8:00 PM, and will feature free cultural programming.

 

Now in its fourth year, The HomeBase Project has selected a group of international artists from different practices and cultural backgrounds to inhabit the former medical clinic for three weeks and create site-specific installations relating to the meaning of Home while exploring the history of the location.

 

On May 9th, HomeBase IV New York will open it’s doors to the public and will become a home to a vibrant community of inter-cultural experience through art talks, lectures, workshops, poetry readings, performances and more, followed by video and print documentation.

 

HomeBase IV New York is a project of LABA of the 14th Street Y and the Educational Alliance and takes place in conjunction with the LABA festival.

 

Directions:

 

Homebase IV is located on 232 East Broadway, between Clinton and Montgomery.
Take the F train to East broadway, walk East 2 ½ blocks on East Broadway.

 

HomeBase IV New York artists

 

HomeBase Team

 

HomeBase IV Virtual Visit