628 East 11th Street | Block : 393 | Lot #21

Building Date : 1885
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Frederick Heerlein
Original Architect : Julius Kastner

Description & Building Alterations

This five-story tenement house features appears to have an intact ground floor configuration and still retains its original cornice design. A simple, Neo-Grec design, the building features rectangular lintels supported by small scrolls as well as corbelling and decorative brickwork. This building would have been built at the same time by the same architect as both of its neighbors, however, it is now bordered by a community garden on lot 20.

Block : 393 / Lot : 021 / Building Date : 1885 / Original Owner : Frederick Heerlein / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Julius Kastner

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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.