26 Avenue A | Block : 398 | Lot #1

Building Date : 1925
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : David Wasser
Original Architect : Gronenberg & Leuchtag

Description & Building Alterations

26 Avenue A is actually an L-shaped building that wraps around to 154 East 2nd Street, where it has a secondary facade. Prominent architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag designed the building. This firm was active in the first two decades of the 20th century, mainly focusing on expensive apartment buildings and several hotels. Built in 1925 as a small-scale furniture showroom according to the Office for Metropolitan History, the building is a rare example of the firm’s foray into retail architecture.

Once a German neighborhood, by 1925 this block and surrounding areas were transitioning from German-centric community buildings into retail with more widespread appeal. The building next door at 28 Avenue A had just been converted from a prominent meeting house for several German groups into stores, and the previous building on this lot had been a German-run brewery…

Gronenberg & Leuchtag designed the furniture store and showroom for owner David Wasser with sparing Renaissance Revival details. This was a very modern interpretation of the tradition, and prior to the damage and subsequent replacement of the facade at 28 Avenue A, this building looked streamlined in comparison to its contemporaries.

The first floor was once a glass storefront topped with an awning. The second floor was all glass with a main central pane flanked by two smaller windows and five transoms across the top. The replacement of the original, large plate glass windows later altered the look of this building immensely. The cornice separating the second and third floor is intact with its centered cartouche and pilasters that visually connect the third and fourth floors. The building is capped with a copper cornice with brackets and a punched out parapet with a central arched pediment.

Block : 398 / Lot : 1 / Building Date : 1925 / Original Owner : David Wasser / Original Use : Commercial / Original Architect : Gronenberg & Leuchtag

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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.