120 & 120½ First Avenue | Block : 435 | Lot #2

Building Date : 1853
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Andrew J. Odell
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

Lot 2 is made up of two five-story tenements with separate entrances. Each building includes a storefront and a separate roof cornice, and a shared cornice above storefront. They were originally built in 1853 with 118 First Avenue and were enlarged into multiple dwellings by 1859.

The present facade features bracketed galvanized-iron cornice with paneled frieze, molded window lintels, and footed sills. The storefronts have been infilled. These two buildings were identical to and erected together with 118 First Avenue.

Block :435 / Lot : 002 / Building Date : 1853 / Original Owner : Andrew J. Odell / Original Use : Residential / 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.