420 East 12th Street; 418-432 East 12th Street; 419-431 East 11 Street | Block : 439 | Lot #17

Building Date : 1923
Original Use : Institutional

Original Owner : City of New York Board of Education
Original Architect : William H. Gompert

Description & Building Alterations

This is a five-story brick building erected in 1923 formerly served as a public school (P.S. 60) is now a preparatory high school. The H-plan is credited to architect William Gompert even though it is described in Charles B. J. Snyder’s 122 Annual Report. It was constructed just after World War I when construction stalled. The building has a utilitarian look and features projecting side bays with elaborate parapets, brick facing, molded banding, flat lintels, and quoins flanking the windows. The main entry porticos feature an elaborate entrance surround with a large segmental arch with spandrels, Ionic columns supporting an entablature, with oval decorated pediment and beast carvings.

Block : 439 / Lot : 017 / Building Date : 1923 / Original Owner : City of New York Board of Education / Original Use : Institutional / Original Architect : William H. Gompert

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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.