https://library.hunter.cuny.edu/old/sites/default/files/pdf/finding_aids/Lenox_Hill_Neighborhood_House_Collection.pdf
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
-Many working class families (Germans/Austrians/Hungarians/Czechs/Irish/Italian) moved into tenements (late 1800s)
- this causes social issues due to influx in population (housing/healthcare/education)
- 1886 1st settlement house created, “Toynbee Hall” (educate and provide social serves)
Settlement house: (Toynbee Hall) 1894 another building established called “Alumnae Settlement”, has programs such as women’s groups, civics clubs, cultural events
1911 renamed Lenox Hill Settlement Association, for the whole community. Benefactors include Rockefellers, Morgans, Pierreponts
1919 another building added, United Community House (Children’s House)
1928 new building which houses Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association (LHNA)
1930s during Depression LHNA collaborates with Red Cross and also has food/milk programs
1940s wartime they make bandages and have day cares (James Boswell, Kathryn Oswald, and Jule Bouchard are directors)
1950s gentrification, real estate developers want to build luxury high-rises, LHNA establishes Lenox Hill Housing Services to help displaced owners, work with NYC Housing Authority to make two “moderate income housing projects”
1994 renamed Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, continues to serve over 20,000 people in the community every year
http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/robert-lenox-1759-1839
Painting of Robert Lenox (Scotish owner of 30-acre farm that Lenox Hill gets its name from) from Kirkcudbright, Scotland and came to America pre-revolution
https://www.oldnyc.org/#714078f-a
“421 East 61st Street, north side, between First and York avenues. This building was built in 1799 by William Stevens Smith for his wife, the daughter of John Adams, President of the United States.”
1799 was constructed as a carriage house
1826 was made into a type of “resort” for wealthier people to “escape from the business of the city”, people could swim and fish in the East River