506 East 5th Street | Block : 400 | Lot #9

Building Date : 1859-1860
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : William B. Astor
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This row of nine identical buildings (506-524 East 5th Street) was built for owner William B. Astor as investment properties in 1859-1860. They each housed eight families above a ground-floor store. These Italianate tenements had arched, brownstone lintels and simple, projecting sills and would have had raised stoop entrances. No. 506 still retains its cornice, but has been stuccoed over, partially obscuring the original lintels and sills, and several windows have lost their ornament entirely. The small windows in the center of the facade were added in the 1930s. The ground-floor shops have been replaced with apartments.

Block : 400 / Lot : 9 / Building Date : Front Building: 1859-1860 / Original Owner : William B. Astor / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / 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.