53 First Avenue | Block : 445 | Lot #35

Building Date : 1869
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : J. Gessenes
Original Architect : Louis Burger

Description & Building Alterations

This five-story pre-law tenement was built in 1869 and designed by Louis Burger of Bruno W. Berger & Son, who also designed the buildings at Nos. 51, 55 and 57 First Avenue.

The four buildings share a similar facade design with a bracketed cornice, molded lintels and sills. The storefront has been largely altered.

H. Brickman & Sons, the hardware store at 53-55 First Avenue, has occupied this space since the 1930s.

Block : 445 / Lot : 035 / Building Date : 1869 / Original Owner : J. Gessenes / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : Louis Burger

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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.