File:Looking Down Pearl Street St. James Place from Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan, New York (7237202428).jpg

To the left in the photo is the Alfred E. Smith public housing development. Governor Alfred E. Smith Houses, or the Alfred E. Smith Houses. is a public housing development built by the New York City Housing Authority in the Two Bridges neighborhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The development was named after four-time New York Governor Al Smith (1873–1944), the first Catholic to win a Presidential nomination by a major political party, and a social reformer who made progress in the areas of better living and working conditions. Smith served as governor from 1919–1920 and 1923–1929, and was nominated unsuccessfully by the Democratic Party in 1928, with Joseph Taylor Robinson as his running mate.

There are 12 buildings in the complex, which range from 15 to 17 stories tall. It covers 21.75 acres (8.80 ha), has 1,931 apartments, and houses an estimated 5,739 people. Of the residents at the Governor Alfred E. Smith Houses, 30% are elderly, the highest such percentage of all public housing developments in New York City. The grounds are bordered by St. James Place to the west, Madison Street to the north, Catherine Street to the east, and South Street to the south.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Smith_Houses" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Smith_Houses</a>