55 Second Avenue | Block : 459 | Lot #34

Building Date : 1901
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : Pincus Lowenfeld & William Prager
Original Architect : George Frederick Pelham

Description & Building Alterations

This seven-story tenement was designed by George Frederick Pelham for owners Pincus Lowenfeld and William Prager in 1901. The building was designed to hold 26 families and two stores.

The building is made of brick, terra cotta and limestone with decorative lintels above each window. There are four bays. The second floor windows on the outer two bays have a triangle pediment lintel. Each floor’s lintels vary from flat to arched. The roof is flat with decorative dentilated limestone above the ribbon garland frieze decoration.

Much of the ornamentation has been replaced, though the cornice is original.

The two stores on the first floor were combined in 1937.

Block : 459 / Lot : 034 / Building Date : 1901 / Original Owner : Pincus Lowenfeld & William Prager / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : George Frederick Pelham

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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.