303 East 5th Street | Block : 447 | Lot #55

Building Date : 1872
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : C. Wildbergen
Original Architect : William Jose

Description & Building Alterations

This pre-law tenement building was built in 1872. Originally, it housed two families on each floor and was constructed at the cost of $11,000. There was also a store on the ground level.

Building alteration applications from 1959 indicate that the cornice was removed and replaced with a brick parapet and the front entrance was lowered. The upper floors were originally accessed by a stoop.

The current facade features a brownstone ground floor and brick upper floors. It appears that the window lintels have been shaved.

Block : 447 / Lot : 55 / Building Date : 1872 / Original Owner : C. Wildbergen / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : William Jose

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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.