Ms. Sejenko, 79, was found dead at 11 a.m. Saturday inside her unlocked apartment on the third floor of a brick five-story walk-up at 525 East Sixth Street, the police said.

The youngest of four children, he was born in a five-story brick walk-up on Henry Street and was raised in a neighborhood full of the social programs many Republicans deride.

Throughout the neighborhood are brownstone townhomes, brick walk-ups, and five- to six-story apartment buildings, typically constructed between 1880 and 1930.

Other relatives lived in the same building, a four-story brick walk-up, but said they could not speak to reporters because they were notifying other relatives.

Ms. Sejenko was found dead about 11 a.m. inside her unlocked apartment in the five-story brick walk-up, at 525 East Sixth Street, the police said.

On Perry Street, four- and five-story brick walk-ups abound, along with short, stubby warehouses.

The long row of four-story brick walk-ups blends with the area.

In September, Jamel and Makeya returned to his apartment, a three-bedroom railroad apartment in a four-story brick walk-up.

Their neighborhood hardly resembles a Norman Rockwell painting - a bustling, motley warren of tired brick walk-ups, where colorful storefronts bear handmade signs in several languages.

By early afternoon, a demolition crew was at work tearing down the dilapidated building, which sat precariously between another brick walk-up and a vacant lot.