309 East 6th Street | Block : 448 | Lot #51

Building Date : 1852
Original Use : Institutional

Original Owner : Charles Cooper
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This four-story with basement building was built in 1852 as part of a pair with No. 311 East 6th Street. The facades of No. 309 and No. 311 are mirror-images of one another. They each feature a rusticated brownstone base, round-arched main entrance on first floor, and brick corbelling at the roofline. The window lintels and sills have been simplified.

The two buildings held a Jewish organization, the Emanu-El Brotherhood, from 1911 to 1960. They were later occupied by YMHA/YWHA. The rehabilitation center Odyssey House, Inc. moved into the buildings in 1979.

Block : 448 / Lot : 051 / Building Date : 1852 / Original Owner : Charles Cooper / Original Use : Institutional / 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.