137 Fourth Avenue, 92-104 East 14th Street, 101-103 East 13th Street, 137-157 Fourth Avenue | Block : 559 | Lot #9

Building Date : 1961
Original Use : Residential/Commercial

Original Owner : Central 14th Corp
Original Architect : Horace Ginsbern & Associates

Description & Building Alterations

This building was constructed in 1961 by Horace Ginsbern & Associates for the Central 14th Corporation. Ginsbern was raised in New York City and graduated from Columbia University, after which he started his own architectural firm. Marvin Fine joined the firm in 1929.

The lot once held the Belvidere House, a hotel with a restaurant designed on a European-plan. An 1866 guide to New York City calls the location of the Belvidere house “one of the most delightful parts of the city” (p. 102). The present L-shaped building was constructed as an office building.

Block : 559 / Lot : 9 / Building Date : 1961 / Original Owner : Central 14th Corp / Original Use : Residential/Commercial / Original Architect : Horace Ginsbern & Associates

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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.