653 East 5th Street; 71 Avenue C | Block : 387 | Lot #143

Building Date : 1899
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : St. John the Baptist Foundation
Original Architect : Alfred E. Davis

Description & Building Alterations

Built in 1899, this six-story Old Law Tenement was owned by the St. John the Baptist Foundation and housed 15 families with stores on the first floor.

This structure is clad in light orange brick with raised silver brick bands at the second and top stories. The corners of the building are chamfered and the windows have flat keystoned arches and simple stone sills. A heavy cornice crowns the building. There is a projecting stone entry portico on the 5th Street elevation capped by an entablature supported by free standing Doric columns. Today there are eight apartments in the building and the ground floor continues to be used for retail.

Block : 387 / Lot : 143 / Building Date : 1899 / Original Owner : St. John the Baptist Foundation / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : Alfred E. Davis

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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.