421 East 12th Street | Block : 440 | Lot #49

Building Date : Mid-19th c./2003 alt.
Original Use : Storage

Original Owner : Unknown
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

A row house was erected on this lot prior to 1853, at which point a building was displayed on a map published that year. A 1905 alteration permit lists this building as four stories high, and by the time the 1940s tax photo was taken, the building remained this height. By 1974, according to a Certificate of Occupancy, the building had been reduced to one story. In 2003, 421 East 12th Street was extended into a six-story residential building with brick facing and horizontal window openings.

Block : 440 / Lot : 049 / Building Date : Mid-19th c./2003 alt. / Original Owner : Unknown / Original Use : Residential / 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.