83-85 First Avenue; 347 East 5th Street | Block : 447 | Lot #7501

Building Date : 1869-71
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Gossner & Co.
Original Architect : Louis Burger

Description & Building Alterations

Two buildings currently exist on this lot. They were originally built as five-story tenements in 1869, but by 1871 they were raised to six stories. The original mansard roofs were likely replaced by the added story.

The facade features a bracketed cornice with festoons, quoins at the building corners, simple molded window lintels and bracketed sills. The original storefronts were removed and replaced in 1915.

This was previously lots 34 and 35.

Block : 447 / Lot : 7501 / Building Date : 1869-71 / Original Owner : Gossner & Co. / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Louis Burger

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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.