386 East 8th Street | Block : 377 | Lot #25

Building Date : Unknown
Original Use : Community Garden

Original Owner : New York City Parks and Recreation
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

A four story tenement building that stood on this lot was demolished in 1972. It is now the site of the Green Oasis Community & Gilbert’s Sculpture Garden. The earliest records for this building date to 1907 when owner Falk Rhonheimer installed water closets in the building employing the services of architect Richard Rohl of 128 Bible House.

The community gardens were created by local residents Normand Valle and Reynaldo Arenas in the vacant lots of former tenements in the early 1980’s. The name Gilbert’s Sculpture Garden was derived from the superintendent of the neighboring building John Gilbert Ingram, Sr. (1932-1999) who created the sculptures found throughout the garden. For more on the garden’s origins see its website HERE.

Block : 377 / Lot : 025 / Building Date : Unknown / Original Owner : New York City Parks and Recreation / Original Use : Community Garden / Original Architect : Unknown

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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.

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