SKYSCRAPER SETTLEMENT : the many lives of christodora house

The roles that Christodora House has played from 19th-century settlement house to its newest forms Settlement house workers helped transform the lives of thousands of people despite lack of funding, the influenza epidemic of 1918, economic depressions, and two World Wars. Many of these houses still exist in the original neighborhoods where they confront the problems of today and advocate for their communities. Christodora House, founded in 1897 as “The Young Women’s Settlement,” played an important role in the life of immigrants and other residents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. For over 50 years, residents and volunteers at Christodora House provided classes, clubs, recreational activities, and medical and dental clinics for thousands of New Yorkers, and then continued to operate programs out of public housing and other locations for more than two decades. The building at 143 Avenue B, now housing condominiums, has had a tumultuous history since 1948 but still stands, towering over its tenement neighborhood in the East Village. Christodora Inc. is now a nonprofit foundation with offices in Midtown Manhattan, whose staff works with underserved New Yorkers, including youth in the public school system, carrying on a long, distinguished history of service to the city and country. Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents List of Illustrations Introduction: From the Archives to Christodora House to the Streets of New York Part I: The Historical Setting 1. Migration and Urban Transformation 2. Answering the Call for Reform: Associations, Social Movements, and Alliances 3. The Settlement House: “A Place for Gathering and Distributing All the Forces of Society" Part II: Christodora Over the Decades 4. From the Young Women’s Settlement to Christodora House, 1897–1948 5. Coming Down to Earth: Christodora House After 1948 6. Christodora: Continuity and Transformation Part III: The Settlement House and the Community 7. The Settlement House: Motivations, Controversy, and Limitations 8. The Settlement House: Impact and Adaptation 9. Community Building and Advocacy in the East Village/Lower East Side Final Thoughts Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index About the Author