534 East 11th Street; 534-536 East 11th Street | Block : 404 | Lot #21

Building Date : 1898
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Gerson Hyman & Emanuel Oppenheim
Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Description & Building Alterations

This six-story old law tenement was constructed in 1898 for owners Gerson Hyman and Emanuel Oppenheim. The building, designed by Schneider & Herter, was originally occupied by 30 families.

The Renaissance Revival brick façade features rounded arches and detailed brick and stone surrounds at the third- and fifth-story windows. Below each story is a beltcourse. The original entryway, which would have been accessed by a stoop, has been lowered from the first to the ground floor. Brick infill shows where the door was once located. The original cornice was removed prior to the 1980s based on a tax photo from that decade (see sidebar).

Block : 404 / Lot : 021 / Building Date : 1898 / Original Owner : Gerson Hyman & Emanuel Oppenheim / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

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What is the Building Blocks Project

What does a building mean to someone who lives there? A person who lives on the block? In the neighborhood? In the city? This site presents a wealth of historic information gained from GVSHP’s architectural research survey about the buildings located in the East Village.

The site explores the area generally considered today as the East Village: from a northern border of 14th Street to a southern border of Houston Street, Avenue D in the east to 4th Avenue/the Bowery to the west. You can explore the information about the blocks and buildings featured here in two ways.

Pick a block. Maybe it’s yours, or perhaps it is just your favorite place to shop, grab a bite, or just people watch. Then explore the buildings that make up that block. Or take one of the many guided tours on the site, curated by a collection of organizations and experts from the neighborhood. See how they experience the neighborhood. Then tell us what the neighborhood means to you. The site’s comments section allows you to open a dialogue with others who feel just as passionately as you do about the East Village.