511 East 12th Street | Block : 406 | Lot #59

Building Date : 1864
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : E. Cunningham
Original Architect : Unknown

Description & Building Alterations

This five-story Italianate pre-law tenement retains its segmental-arched lintels and some of the cast-iron details surrounding the entryway, though it has lost its cornice. The original configuration of the building would have provided housing for two families per upper floor with a store on the ground floor. The lot also has a back house, constructed prior to the front house, which also would have housed two families per floor.

Block : 406 / Lot : 059 / Building Date : 1864 / Original Owner : E. Cunningham / 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.