344 East 14th Street; 342-348 East 14th Street; 339-347 East 13th Street | Block : 455 | Lot #29

Building Date : 1960-1963
Original Use : Institutional

Original Owner : Unknown
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This four-story building was constructed between 1960-1963, according to a series of New Building permits filed between these years. Previously, the lot was used as a parking facility with a one-story shed. By 1965, a certificate of occupancy reveals that a YM-YWCA community center had been built on the lot with a lobby, a swimming pool, a library, a roof playground, offices, and social and club rooms. It is four stories in height and six bays of varying widths wide, articulated through vertical separations. Metal tubes run between these separations and extend above the roof line in a bell shape.

Block : 455 / Lot : 029 / Building Date : 1960-1963 / Original Owner : Unknown / 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.