‍ ‍Welcome to the saga of 192-94 North Bank Street…

‍ ‍Recently, a friend asked me about rooming houses in Lost New London, a housing arrangement of short or long-term furnished room rentals that worked for people with limited means who could not afford the time commitment of an apartment lease nor the nightly rate of a hotel. They were also called single-room-occupancies or SROs and rooms without board. Rooms with board, that is, meals included were more rare and the atmosphere was more like that of an extended family.

Sadly, during the period of redevelopment, single people and families were given cookie-cutter apartment housing as the only option. On another page, entitled Furnished Rooms, we‘ll look at what the Main Street neighborhoods had to offer in the way of rooms with and without board prior to redevelopment.

However, on this page we will be reviewing the unique story of the Lovitch family and the rooming house they ran at 192-94 North Bank Street.

photo courtesy George Oldershaw, 1961

Sanborn map, 1954, courtesy the Library of Congress