53 Avenue B; 246-248 East 4th Street | Block : 386 | Lot #10

Building Date : 1891
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Jonas Weil & Berne Mayer
Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Description & Building Alterations

This six-story Old Law tenement was built in 1891 by Schneider & Herter to house fifteen families and two retail stores.

The storefront of the retail space on Avenue B was expanded in 1910. The building façade has retained a number of historic details, which stand out particularly because of its boldly painted features. A bracketed cornice in the Italianate style dominates the top of the sixth floor and string courses run along the building between each floor. The string courses on two stories contain friezes as well. The windows are ornamented with simple surrounds, connected on the third and fifth floor by bands of masonry. Today the building has sixteen residential units and two commercial spaces.

Block : 386 / Lot : 010 / Building Date : 1891 / Original Owner : Jonas Weil & Berne Mayer / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Do you know this building? Please share your own stories or photos of this building here!

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.