51 St. Mark’s Place | Block : 450 | Lot #49

Building Date : 1899
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Gustav Dohreuwend
Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Description & Building Alterations

This five-story with basement building was erected in 1899, designed by architect Schneider & Herter. Its facade features a bracketed cornice with an ornate frieze, varied elaborate window enframements with fluted pilasters and round-arched pediments at the third story, molded beltcourses, round-arched window openings at second and fourth stories, and segmental-arched windows with keystones at the first story. The entrance enframement features columns in molded surrounds, supporting a bracketed entablature.

In the early 1980s the building housed 51X, a contemporary art gallery with exhibitions showing works of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and The Sex Pistols’ front man, Johnny Rotten. Opened in 1981, it became a prominent player in the East Village Arts scene with specialization in graffiti art.

Block : 450 / Lot : 049 / Building Date : 1899 / Original Owner : Gustav Dohreuwend / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

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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.