Percent for Art Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201c70 Mulberry Street captures the history and hopes of the Chinatown community,\u201d said Mayor Mamdani. \u201cFor generations, this building has been a place where neighbors gathered, where seniors found community and where cultural organizations kept this neighborhood\u2019s traditions alive. After the terrible fire in 2020, those organizations and the people who depend on them were forced to carry on elsewhere. Now, we\u2019re bringing them home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a momentous day for Chinatown as we begin the reconstruction of 70 Mulberry Street, a place that for generations embodied the memories, culture and spirit of this community,\u201d said DDC Commissioner Paul A. Ochoa. \u201cThe devastating fire years ago was a profound loss, but the community\u2019s resilience never wavered. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter as the City transforms that loss into renewal, building a larger, more beautiful permanent home for the vital cultural organizations that were displaced. This project will restore a cherished cultural hub at the heart of this historic neighborhood, preserving and celebrating Chinatown\u2019s rich heritage while creating a vibrant space for future generations to learn, gather and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c70 Mulberry Street has been part of the heart of Chinatown for over 100 years. After losing the building to a devastating fire, we\u2019re building it back for the community,\u201d said DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei. \u201cWorking with DDC, we will preserve the historic character of this landmark building while creating a modern, accessible and sustainable facility that will serve this community for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project will restore a home to local arts organizations along with so many other community services, while paying tribute to the site\u2019s history with a remarkable public art installation,\u201d said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij. \u201cWings of Everchange by artist Jennifer Wen Ma, commissioned by our Percent for Art program, transforms a moment of destruction into one of community rebirth. Using salvaged objects from the fire that devastated the building, Ma shows us that new possibilities can be built from what feel like moments of loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original five-story building at 70 Mulberry Street was designed by C.B.J Snyder and constructed in 1892. It first served as Public School 23 before becoming a vital community gathering space. After the school closed down in the mid-1970s, the building became home to five community-based organizations: CPC Chinatown Senior Citizen Center, United East Athletic Association, Chen Dance Center, Museum of Chinese in America and Chinatown Manpower Project.<\/p>\n
Together, these organizations have provided invaluable cultural, recreational and social services to Chinatown residents and New Yorkers across the city. On January 23, 2020, a fire significantly damaged the building, forcing the organizations to relocate temporarily. While many have continued offering programs and services at interim locations, they have operated at reduced capacity.<\/p>\n
The reconstructed building will give all five organizations a permanent home while providing approximately 30% more public space than the original facility. The City preserved two stories of the original fa\u00e7ade and the historic stairwell, retaining key architectural elements of the 1892 building.<\/p>\n
The new facility will include six community rooms, including two rooms on the top floor that can be combined into a larger space. A new kitchen will serve the senior center, while a multipurpose room on the sixth floor overlooking Columbus Park will accommodate performances, sports, cultural events, receptions, banquets and lectures. The room will connect directly to landscaped outdoor terraces along Mulberry and Bayard Streets, allowing events to extend outside. Together, the spaces will accommodate up to 475 people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Paul A. Ochoa, Department…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-399372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}