185 East 2nd Street | Block : 397 | Lot #25

Building Date : 1898
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Louis Cohen
Original Architect : Michael Bernstein

Description & Building Alterations

Like its neighboring buildings at 181-183 East 2nd Street, this building was built in 1898 by Michael Bernstein for Louis Cohen as an old law tenement building (See Nos. 181 & 183 for New Buidling permit). Its original cornice has been removed and its ground floor altered and converted from commercial to residential use, both apparently by 1940, the time the tax photo was taken. However, its other original architectural features are intact, as with its sister buildings, 181-183 East 2nd Street.

Block : 397 / Lot : 25 / Building Date : 1898 / Original Owner : Louis Cohen / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Michael Bernstein

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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.