East Village loft in the historic Christodora House has loads of charm, space and park views for $5,500/month

If you love classic prewar apartments but you also love the East Village, you might think you’ll have to make some concessions when finding an apartment to rent among the neighborhood’s tenement walk-ups and boxy new buildings. But don’t give up until you’ve seen this unbelievably charming and spacious loft apartment in the venerable Christodora House at 143 Avenue B, on the rental market for $5,500.

The 17-story building was constructed in 1928 as the Christodora Settlement House. At the time it was known as the “skyscraper settlement,” the world’s tallest structure dedicated to social services, providing food, shelter, education and health services to local residents. George Gershwin gave his first public recital in its third-floor concert hall, and decades later it was the site of a community center controversy that became part of serious civil disturbances in and around the park. By the 1980s, the East Village was beginning to become gentrified and the building was converted to 85 condominium apartments, one of the first such conversions in the neighborhood.

It’s since survived with grace through the neighborhood’s worst years and its most recent development boom. The unique apartments–mostly studios and one-bedrooms–are loft-like, with high beamed ceilings, huge windows and graciously-proportioned rooms. Many apartments have been beautifully renovated to suit longtime owners.

This loft offers over 1,000 square feet of space with floor-to-ceiling windows and unobstructed park views; southern and western exposures bring plenty of sunlight into the bright open space, which has well-kept wide-plank solid wood floors and lots of built-ins.

There’s a windowed eat-in kitchen, two full bathrooms and plenty of closet and potential office/studio space, plus an in-unit washer/dryer. The pet-friendly doorman/elevator building is across the street from Tompkins Square Park (which boasts one of the city’s best dog runs) and steps away from too many great restaurants, shops, markets and public gardens to count.

[Listing: 143 Avenue B, #2B by Glenn Schiller for Corcoran Group]

[At CityRealty.com]

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Images courtesy of Corcoran Group