440-442 East 9th Street; 141 Avenue A | Block : 436 | Lot #29

Building Date : 1853
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : J.J. Woodruff
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

Two five-story tenements erected in 1853 stand on this lot, originally constructed along with the building on today’s Lot 28. No. 440 is three-bay wide. No. 442 at the cross of East 9th Street and Avenue A was raised from four stories to five stories between 1885 and 1912.

They both feature bracketed cornices with paneled frieze and simple rectangular sills. The historic lintels have been stripped.

Block : 436 / Lot : 029 / Building Date : 1853 / Original Owner : J.J. Woodruff / 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.