37 Avenue B; 37-39 Avenue B; 207-209 East 3rd Street | Block : 386 | Lot #1

Building Date : c. 1841
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : James Hearst & John Donnahue
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This struture was originally built as two houses c. 1841 according to tax records and the owners were James Hearst and John Donnahue.

In 1922, the building on the rear of the lot (East 3^rd Street side) was demolished, and a one-story extension to the existing building was constructed. The parapet was also reconstructed. By 1938, the building was owned by Manufacturers Trust Co. and had a store on the first floor with “display lofts” on the upper floors. In that same year the use converted back to tenement housing with two families on each upper floor and a bank on the ground floor, as it remains today.

Block : 386 / Lot : 001 / Building Date : c. 1841 / Original Owner : James Hearst & John Donnahue / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Unknown

Do you know this building? Please share your own stories or photos of this building here!

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.