Lester House (Rivera)
Muriel Lester Cooperative House was founded in 1940 as an all-women's cooperative house; today it is located at 900 Oakland Street and is, like all ICC co-ops, inclusive of all genders. It is one of the only houses in the ICC that only provides vegetarian and vegan food to its members. In 2019, ICC members voted to change Lester House's name to Rivera House after queer activist Silvia Rivera and rebrand the house as the ICC’s first QTPOC (Queer & Trans People of Color) house. These changes will go into effect starting in 2021.
Muriel Lester was a social reformer, pacifist and nonconformist. Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and trans women.