540 East 5th Street; 540-542 East 5th Street | Block : 400 | Lot #26

Building Date : 1904
Original Use : Residential /Commercial

Original Owner : George F. Leaird
Original Architect : S.E. Gage

Description & Building Alterations

Along with Nos. 536-538, this was built as two identical new law tenement buildings on four lots. Each half of the large six-story building housed 22 families over ground-floor shops. The facade was likely altered in the 1930s. The building would have originally had projecting window lintels and a cornice.

Block : 400 / Lot : 26 / Building Date : 1904 / Original Owner : George F. Leaird / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : S.E. Gage

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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.