174 East 2nd Street | Block : 398 | Lot #52

Building Date : 1840/1863 alt.
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : Peter Brewer
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

Originally built as three story row house, 174 East 2nd Street was increased to five stories in 1863. By this time, there was also a three story rear structure. Its Neo-Grec lintels and cornice are still intact, likely dating to the 1863 alteration.

From 1958-61, during the period when he finished Kaddish, Allen Ginsberg lived at 174 East Second Street with his long-time partner, Peter Orlovsky. This building and many others in the area are tenements built around the turn of the 20th Century. 174 East Second Street was built in 1909. This brick, terra cotta, and stone New Law tenement was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by architect Charles B. Meyers.

Block : 398 / Lot : 52 / Building Date : 1840/1863 alt. / Original Owner : Peter Brewer / 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.