The Bowery Mission

History and architecture

No. 227 Bowery is significant for its 103-year history as the home of the Bowery Mission, a religious based organization that has fed, housed and cared for countless homeless men on the Lower East Side for more than 130 years. This building is also an important reminder of the Bowery’s history during the 19th century and for its transient population that once stayed at the Bowery’s previously numerous homeless shelters run by missions and cheap lodging houses.

No. 227 Bowery was built in 1876 by owner Jonas Stolts, a manufacturer of coffins and undertaker, and designed by William Jose (c.1843-1885), who designed many multiple dwellings in Manhattan, especially on the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. 227 Bowery is constructed with red brick and has four bays of windows with incised stone lintels and sills at the third through fifth stories. The ground floor has three arch-headed openings with keystone lintels, a bracketed cornice and stone banding.

This neo-Grec style building was altered in 1908-09 by architects Marshall L. Emery (c.1863-1921) and Henry G. Emery (1871-1956) when the Bowery Mission leased the building. Four stained-glass windows surrounded by Tudor Revival style mock half-timbering and a small shed roof covered with clay tiles were installed at the second story. The interior of the second story was also remodeled into a Gothic Revival style chapel at this time. The second-story stained-glass windows depict the Biblical story of the Return of the Prodigal Son and are attributed to Benjamin Sellers (1860-1930). Sellers trained at the Tiffany Studios and designed stained-glass windows for other houses of worship, including Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn.

The Bowery Mission was established in 1879 on the Bowery and moved from its location at 55 Bowery to 227 Bowery in 1909 when 55 Bowery was demolished for the approach to the Manhattan Bridge. The Bowery Mission is a religious-based organization that provides food, shelter, employment and medical assistance to indigent homeless men. One of the oldest Christian missions still in existence in this country, the Mission became famous for its bread line. Many prominent figures have made appearances at the Mission, including President William Taft, spoke to 600 men in 1909 soon after the organization moved to 227 Bowery. The Bowery Mission also runs a camp for inner city children outside New York City that has been in existence since 1894 and a center for women in Manhattan that opened in 1990.