631 East 6th Street | Block : 389 | Lot #45

Building Date : 1877
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : David Jones
Original Architect : Peter Tostevin

Description & Building Alterations

No. 631 East 6^th Street was constructed by its owner, the prominent brewer and large real-estate owner David Jones, in 1877 after the destruction of his brewery by fire in 1875. The Italianate-style building, constructed along with six others, is five stories in height with a rusticated, stone clad first floor with three bays. The entry is centered and all three openings are arched with radiating voussoirs. The upper stories are four bays and the windows have identical ornamental sills and curved lintels. The metal cornice has been removed. The non-commercial ground floor displays rusticated stonework.

The pre-law tenement originally housed eight families and the ground floor was used for storage. Jones owned a number of tenements on the site of his former brewery, which had stretched from 617 to 637 East 6^th Street. The ground floor façade has had the same treatment since a tax photo of the building was taken in the 1940’s.

Block : 389 / Lot : 045 / Building Date : 1877 / Original Owner : David Jones / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Peter Tostevin

Do you know this building? Please share your own stories or photos of this building here!

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.