119 First Avenue | Block : 449 | Lot #36

Building Date : 1847-48
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : Robert Orr
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This four-story tenement was originally built in 1847-48, with store space on the first floor. The building has been heavily altered and its current colonial revival appearance is the result of a 1924 alteration. The structure is clad in a red brick and features a stepped parapet with a central pediment. Panels have been installed a the second and third stories shortening the window heights. The fire balcony climbs down the front facade from the fourth story left bay window to the two center bay windows at the third story to the central bay at the second story.

Block : 449 / Lot : 036 / Building Date : 1847-48 / Original Owner : Robert Orr / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : Unknown

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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.