East 10th Street Historic District

This district is small, containing just 26 buildings on the northern border of Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. The creation of the park in 1834 attracted speculation in the area, as did the proximity of several fashionable residential neighborhoods near Broadway and the Bowery. By the 1840s, a series of row houses were built on the western end of East 10th Street; several of the designs are attributed to architect Joseph Trench. Trench is credited with bringing the Italianate style to the United States, as evidenced by his other work, which includes the Odd Fellows Hall and A.T. Stewart Department Store, both individual landmarks. In fact, the row houses on East 10th Street may be the first appearance of this architectural style in New York City.

During the 1850s, the population of the area changed due to an influx of immigrants moving to the neighborhood, and several tenement style buildings were built in the remaining lots. Existing row houses were also converted into boarding houses and multiple unit dwellings to accommodate these new, predominantly German and Irish communities. Over time these buildings were modified; they were raised in height, perhaps to accommodate the influx of new residents, and cornices, lintels and sills were replaced with many in the Queen Anne style.

From 1888-90, two old-law tenements were built by Benjamin E. Lowe at 321 and 323 East 10th Street; this construction was followed in 1904 by the erection of the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library. One of the first Carnegie libraries in New York City, it was designed by Charles Follen McKim, of the renowned firm McKim, Mead and White, and is an individual landmark. Other major changes to the district include the removal of several of the row house stoops during the early twentieth century, presumably to accommodate commercial or institutional residents. However, the physical character of the district has changed little since those years, and the evolution of this block represents a significant chapter in East Village history. ©2014