170 East 3rd Street | Block : 398 | Lot #15

Description & Building Alterations

This building was once three pre-law tenements with separate rear-yard buildings, constructed in the mid-1800s. The rear buildings still remain. However, the building has been heavily altered over the years and the current appearance likely dates to 1949 when the stores on the first floor were removed. At this time, the three front buildings were treated as one continuous apartment building and the front wall was re-built. There were then eight apartments on floors two through four and twelve on the first floor. One of the buildings, No. 150 on the 1853 map, was the site of Elizabeth Blackwell’s New York Infirmary. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.