Work In Progress: This neighborhood gallery is not yet complete.
The East Village was once among New York’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods, with elegant architecture in classical styles. In the mid-1800s wealthy New Yorkers moved “uptown” and waves of immigrants moved in. Pieces of Germany, Eastern Europe, and much later Latin America all became part of the Lower East Side tenement tapestry.
More than 30 individual landmarks and four historic districts earned protection of The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. The top 12 are referenced below. The NYC Landmarks Map is highly recommended!
One of the most important landmarks anchors the northwest corner of the district: The Cooper Union Foundation Building. This building was the first to use rolled iron “I” beams, so essential to development of skyscrapers. The building also contained an elevator shaft – even before passenger elevators were available. Additionally, this is where then-candidate Abraham Lincoln gave an address that catapulted him to the nomination and the Presidency.
The photos here are just a sampling of the most picturesque buildings.
East Village Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (East Village/Lower East Side Historic District)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (First Houses)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Marble Cemetery I)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Marble Cemetery)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Cooper Union Foundation Building)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (East 10th Street Historic District)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (St. Marks In The Bowery)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (St. Mark’s Historic District)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (St. Mark’s Historic District Extension)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Ottendorfer Branch, New York Public Library)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (Webster Hall)
East Village Building Photos
◉ = Landmark. This table is sortable and searchable.
| LM | name | # | street | built | architect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astor Place IRT Subway Entrance | Astor Place | unknown | |||
 | 51 | Astor Place | 2013 | Fumihiko Maki | |
| ● | Cooper Union Foundation Building | 50 | Astor Place | 1859 | Frederick A. Peterson |
| 141 | Avenue A | unknown | |||
| ● | First Houses | 29 | Avenue A | 1936 | Frederick L. Ackerman |
| 50 | Avenue B | unknown | |||
| 131 | Avenue B | ||||
| ● | Grace Church | 800 | Broadway | 1846 | James Renwick, Jr. |
| The Standard, East Village | 25 | Cooper Place | 2009 | Carlos Zapata, Perkins Eastman | |
| Cooper Union | 41 | Cooper Square | 2009 | Thom Mayne - Morphosis |