Henry Street Settlement opens doors of opportunity for Lower East Side residents and other New Yorkers through social service, arts, and health care programs.
Located within the New York City Housing Authority’s Vladeck Houses are the Settlement’s Senior Services: the Senior Center at 334 Madison, NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) at 351 Madison, the Home Planning Workshop at 359 Madison, and Meals on Wheels and the Senior Companion Program at 367 Madison Street.
The Vladeck Houses were built c. 1940 to replace some of the worst housing conditions found in New York City. The area, originally known as Corlears Hook, had overcrowded tenements that were filled with poverty and disease. The architecture firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, along with William F.R. Balland and Sylvan Bien, designed the complex of multiple six-story structures using dark red brick separated for light and ventilation, trees, walkways, planting areas, and lawns. A combined federal and city funded project, it was named after Baruch Charney Vladeck, a Russian born socialist who lived on the Lower East Side, went on to public service and was appointed to the first New York City Housing Authority.
