166 Second Avenue | Block : 452 | Lot #2

Building Date : 1929
Original Use : Religious Institution

Original Owner : N. Y. C. Baptist Mission Society
Original Architect : Emery Roth

Description & Building Alterations

This 15-story with tower apartment building, Warren Hall, was erected in 1929 by architect Emery Roth for the N. Y. C. Baptist Mission Society during a period when developers pinpointed this area as a site for luxury high-rises. It replaced a Gothic sanctuary built in 1850 by the Baptist Tabernacle, which was founded in 1839. Warren Hall was partially used as sanctuary originally, and the inscription “Baptist Tabernacle” still decorates the main entrance today.

The building facade features projecting brick piers, banding, recessed point-arched entrance openings with incised ornament, three round-arched openings on the central tower, and decorative panels beneath roof railings.

Block : 452 / Lot : 002 / Building Date : 1929 / Original Owner : N. Y. C. Baptist Mission Society / Original Use : Religious Institution / Original Architect : Emery Roth

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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.