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First Houses (NYCHA), Manhattan — a well-sourced history
First Houses is NYCHA’s oldest development and is widely described as the birthplace of public housing in New York City (and often described as the first municipally built low-income public housing in the U.S.). It sits in today’s East Village / Alphabet City at 29–41 Avenue A and 112–138 East 3rd Street, and is a low-rise complex of eight buildings arranged around a landscaped interior courtyard. 1
1) Before First Houses: why this site mattered
By the early 1930s, the blocks around Avenue A / East 3rd Street were part of a wider Lower East Side/East Village landscape of “old-law” tenements that reformers considered overcrowded, unhealthy, and poorly lit/ventilated. First Houses was conceived as a demonstration project: prove the city could clear or remake “slum” housing and replace it with safe apartments at rents working families could pay. 1
2) NYCHA is created (1934) — and First Houses becomes “Experiment No. 1”
A key turning point was the creation of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). In its 1974 landmark designation report for First Houses, NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) states NYCHA was established February 20, 1934, after state enabling legislation, and Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia appointed Langdon W. Post as chair. 1
In the same report, LPC notes the First Houses undertaking was known early on as “the Astor project” and NYCHA’s “Experiment No. 1.” 1
3) Land acquisition and financing: the “Astor” purchase (December 1934) and NYCHA’s early bonds
One reason First Houses is historically important is that it helped establish how NYCHA would finance projects and assemble land.
LPC reports that, with Board of Estimate approval, NYCHA acquired most of the site from Vincent Astor on December 20, 1934 for $189,281.31—less than half the assessed valuation—using a long-term, tax-advantaged mortgage/bond structure that helped establish NYCHA’s credit. 1
4) The original plan: “renovate tenements + demolish every third building” (then reality intervened)
What made First Houses unusual—compared with later NYCHA superblocks—was that it began as an experiment in partial demolition and rehabilitation of existing tenements, rather than a completely new “from scratch” campus. LPC describes the intent to apply federal-era planning guidelines (light, air, orientation, play space) to an alteration of existing tenements, led by architect Frederick L. Ackerman. 2
A 2006 NYCHA “Housing Authority Journal” retrospective summarizes the approach plainly: the plan reduced density by demolishing every third building so that light and air could reach the apartments, while rebuilding/adapting the remaining structures around a shared courtyard. 3
In practice, the condition of the old buildings and the constraints of doing “rehab-style” work meant the project became far closer to reconstruction/new work than originally envisioned—one reason it was later attacked as overly expensive. 2
5) Federal work-relief labor — and labor conflict (1935)
First Houses is also tightly tied to the New Deal’s work-relief era. LPC reports that labor and materials for demolition and reconstruction were provided through federal/state work-relief programs (including WPA-era labor), and that this became a flashpoint between union labor and relief labor, contributing to a large demonstration at the site on September 13, 1935. 1
6) A landmark legal fight: New York City Housing Authority v. Muller (March 17, 1936)
First Houses is not just a housing milestone—it’s a major milestone in eminent domain / slum clearance law in New York.
LPC reports that two tenements on East 3rd Street were owned by Andrew Muller, who resisted sale and challenged NYCHA’s condemnation power. On March 17, 1936, New York’s highest court (the New York State Court of Appeals) upheld the condemnation power in NYCHA v. Muller, confirming slum clearance and low-cost housing as a public purpose that could justify eminent domain. 1
A contemporaneous legal summary (Michigan Law Review, 1936) likewise describes the holding: the taking was for a public benefit, so the constitutional “public use” limitation was not violated, citing 270 N.Y. 333 (1936). 4
Why this mattered: it strengthened the legal foundation for later NYCHA (and urban renewal) site assembly—especially when a single owner tried to “hold out” inside a clearance area. 1
7) Opening and completion: December 3, 1935 through mid-1936 (why you’ll see both dates)
You’ll often see both 1935 and 1936 attached to First Houses—and they’re both meaningful:
- Dedication / public opening ceremony: LPC states the dedication took place on December 3, 1935, calling it a “momentous occasion” for the city and nation, broadcast on national radio, with a telegram from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and dedication by Eleanor Roosevelt, plus speeches by Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Mayor LaGuardia, and others. 1
- Final completion / last initial building: LPC notes the building tied to the Muller parcels was ready for the “last initial group of tenants” in mid-June 1936, and that the project was formally turned over to the City on July 2, 1936 (with a commemorative tablet still affixed at 112–114 East 3rd Street). 1
So: December 3, 1935 is the symbolic “birth” moment; 1936 marks the wrap-up of remaining construction and formal turnover. 1
8) What NYCHA built: design, amenities, and “human scale”
Site and buildings
The American Planning Association’s National Planning Landmarks program describes First Houses as eight four- and five-story brick buildings, designed by Frederick Ackerman, organized around a landscaped courtyard (and recognized as a National Planning Landmark in 1992). 5
LPC emphasizes the low-rise form as a “human scale” alternative to later, taller forms of public housing—and highlights the courtyard as an “oasis” and a modification of the “garden apartment” concept. 2
Apartment standards and tenant selection
LPC and NYCHA’s own retrospective materials emphasize how “modern” these units were compared with the tenements they replaced: steam heat, hot water, and other basic amenities were standard, and tenant selection involved careful screening by staff/social workers, with preference to local residents and families from especially bad conditions. 3
NYCHA’s 2006 Journal also notes that in the early intake period NYCHA received 3,800 applications for the apartments and set rents at about $6.05 per room, describing this as significantly cheaper than comparable apartments at the time. 3
Street-level stores (a more “city-like” public housing form)
One detail people often miss: the LPC report notes eight stores at street level, reflecting how this early NYCHA project still engaged the surrounding street life (very different from later “towers-in-the-park” campuses that often minimized retail edges). 2
9) Controversy: praised as a breakthrough, attacked as too expensive
First Houses was repeatedly criticized in its day as an expensive “boondoggle” because the complicated rehab/rebuild approach drove costs higher than early estimates. LPC explicitly records that criticism—while also concluding the project was a significant New Deal–era experiment worthy of the effort. 2
This controversy mattered because it helped push later public housing toward more standardized new construction approaches (often on cleared superblocks), rather than labor-intensive tenement-by-tenement reconstruction. 2
10) Landmark status and preservation recognition (1974–1979)
First Houses has multiple layers of historic recognition: