126 East 12th Street; 126-128 East 12th Street | Block : 556-2 | Lot #52

Building Date : 1900
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : John P. Schuchman
Original Architect : John G. Prague

Description & Building Alterations

This old-law tenement was built in 1900 to house 24 families. Although by 2011 the building had been stripped of all its original ornamentation except for the ground floor, by 2020 its facade and cornice had been restored. The building’s architect, John G. Prague was extremely prominent in his field at the time. Prague’s great success as an architect afforded him plenty of time to enjoy a yachting lifestyle. He was a yacht designer and a skilled yachtsman.

The large majority of Prague’s work was done on the Upper West Side, where he was commissioned to design high-class private homes and apartment buildings. A New York Times article from 1894 credits him with the entire beautification of the neighborhood. By 1890, due to the planning of Mr. Prague, 86th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues was referred to as the “queen of all West Side Streets.” The Sunset Apartments on the northeast corner of 85th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and the Brockhoist at 85th Street and Columbus Avenue are just a couple of his noteworthy works. From the time Prague started his work in 1869 until 1894, he had built 214 buildings…

The original owner of No. 126 East 12th Street, John P. Schuchman (b. 1851), was also a man of note. An active member of the German community in the East Village, Schuchman immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1868 and became a lawyer. He was a member of the Tenement-House Committee in the 1890s. By 1900, Schuchman had become a judge whose unfavorable ratings halted his renomination for Judge of the City Court by the Bar Association of the City of New York in 1901. At the time of the construction of No. 126, he resided at 186 Second Avenue but by 1910 had taken up residence here.

From at least the 1990s until 2008, the basement of this building housed the legendary Gallagher’s Paper Collectibles, which sold vintage fashion magazines, photographs, and rare art books.

Block : 556-2 / Lot : 52 / Building Date : 1900 / Original Owner : John P. Schuchman / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : John G. Prague

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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.