A challenging $7 million project to renovate and restore The Emerson, in Manhattan’s Clinton Urban Renewal Area, proved more difficult than expected.
The Emerson was constructed in 1915 as a model tenement building, providing safe and healthy apartments for families and the working poor. William Emerson, an architect and prominent proponent of housing reform, designed the seven-story building with 63 apartments, a grocery, public showers and other social services.