97½ East 7th Street | Block : 435 | Lot #54

Building Date : 1891
Original Use : Residential

Original Owner : Charles Ruff
Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

Description & Building Alterations

This five-story with basement tenement was constructed in 1891, along with its four-bay wide neighbor at 99 East 7th Street. The two buildings also share very similar facade design, though No. 97½ has three bays and its entrance at the east bay.

The present facade features rich decorations throughout, ornate, bracketed galvanized-iron cornice, projecting pilasters through second to fifth stories, round-arched openings at second and fourth stories, segmental-arched window openings at first story, and round-arched entrance with a portico featuring decorated entablature and columns. A non-historic fire escape is found along the two left bays.

Block : 435 / Lot : 054 / Building Date : 1891 / Original Owner : Charles Ruff / Original Use : Residential / Original Architect : Schneider & Herter

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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.