The Cube as an Alternate Plan to Urban Renewal

In the mid-1980s, there was a rejuvenated plan to redevelop several blocks in Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan. Called the New Cooper Square Plan, it was a continuation of an earlier plan, called the Cooper Square Alternate Plan, that was formulated in reaction to a Robert Moses/New York City urban renewal plan that had threatened to displace longtime residents in the area in the 1950s. The Alternate Plan was created by the Cooper Square Committee, founded in 1959, and its goals were to keep longtime residents in the area through the construction of mostly low- and moderate-income housing and to fund this construction with the assistance of federal money and programs. In the 1950s and '60s, there was a fervor at the federal and state levels for urban renewal (sometimes termed "Negro removal"). But by the 1970s, a change in politics and greatly diminished financial support at the federal level (under then president Richard Nixon) meant the Alternate Plan largely went unrealized.

In 1983, the Cooper Square Committee called for a new plan, the details of which were published in The Cooper Square Plan: Report for Discussion, October 15, 1986, part of the Ronald Schiffman Collection on the Pratt Center for Community Development, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History. The report, which focuses on sites between Stanton and 5th Streets, and between the Bowery and 2nd Avenue, includes maps on land use; statistics on residential, commercial, and cultural buildings and vacant sites; pie charts and other data on the demographics of the tenants; and several black-and-white photographs of city blocks and buildings on the sites covered by the plan. One photograph, taken by Brian Rose, chairman of the Cooper Square Committee, is of the Cube Building. As part of the plan, the structurally damaged building was reenvisioned as a future cooperative serving as permanent housing for homeless families. Located at 16 2nd Avenue, the cooperative was completed in 1988.

The Cooper Square Plan: Report for Discussion, October 15, 1986 and other materials from the Ronald Schiffman Collection on the Pratt Center for Community Development can be viewed at the Center for Brooklyn History. Funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation has made the availability of all print and online materials from the Ronald Schiffman Collection possible.

Ron Schiffman will be speaking as part of the Center for Brooklyn History program "Out of the Box: Empowering Community, the Birth and Future of a Movement" on Monday, April 4, 2022, 6:30 PM EST. To find out more and register, CLICK HERE.

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.