80 Second Avenue | Block : 446 | Lot #5

Building Date : 1841, 1881
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Elisha Peck (1841), George Roll (1881)
Original Architect : Unknown (1841), Julius Boekell (1881)

Description & Building Alterations

Originally built as a three-story Greek Revival-style row house, this building was part of a row of houses at 78 to 84 Second Avenue owned by Elisha Peck. It was raised to four stories in 1881. During further alterations in 1920, the stoop was removed and a two-story storefront extension was installed.

The existing facade features planar brick, a bracketed roof cornice, a cornice at the second story, and side piers on the 1920 storefront extension. The details of the window lintels have been removed. The neo-Grec cornice may date to the 1881 extension.

Joseph “Joe the Boss” Masseria, who replaced Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila as the country’s most powerful mafia boss after D’Aquila’s assassination in 1928, lived at 80 Second Avenue.

Block : 446 / Lot : 005 / Building Date : 1841, 1881 / Original Owner : Elisha Peck (1841), George Roll (1881) / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Unknown (1841), Julius Boekell (1881)

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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.