96 St. Marks Place, 1980.

Led Zeppelin immortalized the twin tenements at 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place between First Avenue and Avenue A for the cover of their album Physical Graffiti. The cover featured the two buildings (with the fourth floors removed to make them fit the square shape of the album cover) with the windows cut out to reveal the letters of the album title printed on the inner sleeve, or, if the sleeve was reversed, a series of images of different characters seeming to occupy the building, including lead-singer Robert Plant in drag.

The buildings earn double notoriety in rock and roll history as the place where Keith Richards meets Mick Jagger in the video for ‘Waiting on a Friend’ (the two end up meeting the rest of the band and playing in the bar just a few doors down at 132 First Avenue and St. Mark’s, now known as V Bar). 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place’s place in popular cultural history is now noted by the presence of a used clothing store in the basement called Physical Graffiti. These old-law or ‘dumbbell’ tenements were constructed in 1890.