St. Mark's Historic District

The legendary governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, once owned the land comprising this East Village historic district. Stuyvesant Street, which runs diagonal to the present street grid, was originally a lane dividing his two farms that he bought from the Dutch West India Company in 1651. Stuyvesant's great-grandson Peter inherited most of these properties, and in 1787 commissioned Evert Bancker Jr. to survey and, presumably, laid out the street plan. The streets running east and west were named for male members of the family; those running north and south were named for Stuyvesant's four daughters.

Prior to his death in 1805, Stuyvesant oversaw the construction of St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (between 1795 and 1799) on the site of his great-grandfather's garden chapel. St Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, which features both Federal and Gothic Revival stylistic elements, is located on the oldest worship site in Manhattan. During the young Stuyvesant's lifetime, two additional residences were built; the Stuyvesant- Fish House (1803-1804) at 21 Stuyvesant Street, a wedding present for his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Nicholas Fish, a political ally of Alexander Hamilton; and a house built for Nicholas William Stuyvesant (1795) at 44 Stuyvesant Street.

These three early structures established the scale out of which the surrounding neighborhood would grow. The 1984 historic district extension consisted of Nos. 102 and 104 East 10th Street, two three-story brick dwellings in the Italianate style. These residences, built by 1851, were the first to be constructed on the block. In 1861, a group of houses attributed to architect James Renwick Jr. were completed; Renwick Triangle featured uniform Italianate row houses on an unusual triangular plot. Notable residents of Renwick Triangle include architect Stanford White, who grew up at 118 East 10th Street and photographer Diane Arbus, who lived at 120 East 10th Street between 1968-70.

Today the row houses in the St. Mark's Historic District represent some of the most desired residences in the East Village. St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery has become a literary oasis over the years, serving as home to Paul Blackburn's Poetry Project since 1966. ©2014