241 East 2nd Street | Block : 384 | Lot #25

Building Date : 1870
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : H. G. Freeman
Original Architect : William Parsons

Description & Building Alterations

No. 241 East 2^nd Street is a five-story, ten-unit pre-law tenement. When built in 1870 by architect William Parsons, the building housed two stores on the ground floor (now altered to apartments) and eight families on the upper floors.

At one time the building was renovated to contain as many as 14 apartments. A galvanized iron cornice was removed from the building at some point after the 1980s tax photo was taken (see sidebar).

Block : 384 / Lot : 025 / Building Date : 1870 / Original Owner : H. G. Freeman / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : William Parsons

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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.