635 East 11th Street | Block : 394 | Lot #50

Description & Building Alterations

Built with No. 633 as two identical Old-Law tenement buildings, 635 has much intact original detail including its brownstone and terra-cotta ornament painted white at the first floor.  The terra-cotta details on the second through sixth floors would are the same tone as the light brick, creating a play of texture, rather than color.  This would have been in contrast to the first floor, brownstone details which created tonal contrast.  These contrasts are one of the ways in which the Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles were blended under the Queen Anne aesthetic.  The deep, brick arched windows on the third floor and the exuberant terra cotta with its more classically inspired motifs are another.  The original cornice, which would be identical to the one still present on 633, was angular yet delicately detailed, with a symmetrical brackets and splayed detail that makes it stand out.

The buildings each housed 24 families and shops in the partially raised basement.