540 East 6th Street | Block : 401 | Lot #30

Building Date : 1899
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : John Houlaghan
Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Description & Building Alterations

Constructed as twin buildings on oddly shaped lots (the result of old farm lot lines), Nos. 538 and 540 were constructed in 1899 as old law tenements. No. 538 housed four families per floor for a total of 24 families, with stores and a wood shop in the basement. Designed by Schneider & Herter, it employs the Queen Anne style with elegant terracotta details, brickwork belt courses and a row of arched windows on the third floor. The building would have had a raised-stoop entrance and a pressed-metal cornice.

This lot was once part of William B. Astor’s holdings and was leased out to various people between 1850-1875.

Block : 401 / Lot : 030 / Building Date : 1899 / Original Owner : John Houlaghan / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / 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.