645 East 11th Street | Block : 394 | Lot #46

Building Date : Circa 1865
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : John Cuthag
Original Architect : Henry Ruhpell

Description & Building Alterations

This Italianate, Pre-Law tenement retains much of its original detailing including the pressed-metal cornice with curved brackets and arched window lintels and bracketed sills. The first floor has the cast iron spindly collenettes and square columns of an early storefront alteration (possibly 1885 or 1906). The entrance to the apartments would have been through a door and hallway located in the middle, between the two square columns. To either side of that would have been entrances to the two shops and their display windows.

Block : 394 / Lot : 7501 / Building Date : circa 1865 / Original Owner : John Cuthag / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : Unknown

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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.