The Stanley M. Isaacs Houses (or Isaacs Houses) is a

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

project for those of low-to-moderate incomes located just south of 96th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The Isaacs Houses and the Holmes Towers border

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

, which has the second highest concentration of

in New York City. The three

buildings are 24 stories tall and contain 635 apartments. The project is located between 93rd and 95th Streets with playground & ball courts from 95th-97th street, stretching from 1st Avenue to the FDR Drive.

Development

The Isaacs Houses were designed by architects Frederick G. Frost Jr. & Associates and completed in 1965. They were originally called the

Gerard Swope Gerard Swope (December 1, 1872 – November 20, 1957) was an American electronics businessman. He served as the president of General Electric Company between 1922 and 1940, and again from 1942 until 1945. During this time Swope expanded GE's produ ...

Houses but renamed in 1963 the Isaacs Houses after

Stanley M. Isaacs Stanley Myer Isaacs (1882–1962) was a Republican politician from New York City who served as Manhattan Borough President from 1938 to 1941 and later as a member of the New York City Council from 1942 to 1962. He was Minority Leader of the co ...

, who served as Manhattan Borough President under Mayor LaGuardia and later on the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

for 20 years, the last 12 of those years as minority leader. 45 percent of the apartments in Isaacs are set aside for tenants over the age of 62. The development has been designated a "high crime zone" by the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

's 19th precinct since the early 2000s, and are thus policed to a higher extent, especially due to the heavy socio-economic mixing of the immediate surrounding area, which includes public housing, working-class small tenement buildings, middle-class medium-size buildings, and upper-middle class to upper-class luxury buildings along 1st avenue in the area. The housing project started as a unique and unprecedented community experiment by selecting many of the initial residents from the local Catholic parish, with assistance of Leyda Jimenez and other community ambassadors involved with the local Catholic Church. This created a tight-knit, low-crime community for the first few decades of the Isaac Houses’ history, and crime here is considered to be relatively minimal compared to the projects further north. In 2018, the Isaacs Houses along with the Holmes Towers and Robbins Plaza, which are all run by the same managers, ranked the worst in the nation after federal inspections by the

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

References

Public housing in Manhattan Residential buildings in Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 1965 Yorkville, Manhattan 1965 establishments in New York City First Avenue (Manhattan) {{Manhattan-struct-stub

Development

See also

References