Historic 11th Street

16 East 11th Street about the middle of the block on the south side is a cooperative building comprised of what used to be 2 five story townhouses, Numbers 16 & 18. They were built around 1840 and put together as one unit around the turn of the century. In the 1930s, sections were added to the back giving some apartments highly desirable large rooms with southern exposure — some with windows on three sides and glorious morning sun. The 6th floor was added only recently, probably explaining the building’s missing cornice. One day the owners corporation may decide add a cornice to restore the building facade to its original appearance. Cornices on mid 19th century brownstones were originally the same color as the buildings. Number 16, with 16 apartments, turned co-op in 1973.

18 East 11th Street (now part of #16) was previously home to two of Albert Gallatin’s three sons.  Albert Gallatin (1761-1849) was born in Geneva, Switzerland and immigrated to the US in 1780. He became successively, a merchant, a French tutor at Harvard College, a land speculator and a legislator. He served as Secretary of the Treasury (1801-1814) under Thomas Jefferson. Gallatin had the entrees in Europe and sold US Treasury bonds there that largely financed the Louisiana Purchase.  Gallatin was the longest serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. He settled in New York City in 1827, where from 1831-1839 he was president of a bank. From 1843 until his death, Gallatin was president of the New York Historical Society.

17 /19 East 11th Street & 13/15 East 11th Street — Van Rensselaer Hotel. These two buildings stand adjacent to each other on the north side of 11th Street and for about sixty years constituted the Van Rensselaer Hotel. The building at 17/19 E. 11th Street, a 7-story brick structure was built first in 1901. The building at 13/15 E. 11th, a 9-story brick and stone hotel was built a year later in 1902. The taller 9-story building at the 13/15 address was initially known as The Alabama Hotel. The inscription, THE ALABAMA is still on the front of the building. At the neighboring Van Rensselaer, there is still a discreet “V R” over the arch at the entrance.  

In 1903 the Van Rensselaer was referred to in the New York Times as a 7-story apartment building.  The Hotel Alabama was referred to as the new fireproof apartment hotel.  

In 1909 an ad in the New York Times advertised apartments to let “furnished:  Alabama & Van Rensselaer Hotels $1 daily, including meals, $12.50 weekly.”

In 1912, the two properties merged to one holding. From this point the Alabama Hotel name was no longer used. (Source: www.waltergrutchfield.net/vanrensselaer.htm)

Over the years, the two-building complex became mix of condos and co-ops. In 1998, Yeshiva University purchased the building to house students who attended its nearby Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. A few co-op units remained in the building after the Yeshiva purchase.

In 2016, the Cardozo housing was purchased by Collegium Capital Partners developers of student housing who remodeled the two buildings and once again marketed the dorm rooms to New York City students as The Alabama. Students from area universities were welcomed to the newly renovated and modernized Alabama in August 2017 for the fall semester.  

43 Fifth Avenue. At the Fifth Avenue end of the block, the Beaux-Arts style of the tall Fifth Avenue apartment building on the north corner sets the tone for this street.  Sandwiched between the apartment house and the former Van Rensselaer hotels —and set well back from the street is the Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue.

Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue, 11 East 11th Street is a simple little synagogue which resembles a small two story house of the 1920s. However, it’s believed that the building was constructed as a stable as early as 1852, eventually becoming a residence, and in 1961, it became a synagogue.  

In January, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a proposal from the synagogue to expand and update its facilities, making ADA compliant bathrooms, expanding classrooms and meeting rooms and other changes. The proposal extends the front of the building by about 12 feet, but will preserve a 46 foot front courtyard (down from 57 feet). The mature Gingko tree will remain, but the courtyard will be updated with new planters, walls and lighting. Approval was also given for some change to the facade. As of August 2017, the changes have not been undertaken.

Greek Revival Row. On the north side of 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and University place, walking east past the former hotels (now The Alabama again) is one of the finest rows of Greek Revival houses in Greenwich Village. Those which retain their stoops and ironwork give us an idea of the original appearance of the row and their beautiful facades. Five or six of these townhouses are in the Jill Gill drawing which serves as the logo for the East 11th Street Block Association and the masthead for the newsletter, Around the Block. 

On the south side of 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and University Place, two fine townhouses in the Italianate style adjoin the tall Fifth Avenue apartment house and serve as a prelude to the long row of seven houses built in the Greek Revival style of the 1830s. Number 14 was occupied for many years by architect Edgar Tafel who apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright and designed the Church House of the First Presbyterian Church, a 19th century landmark. The church is 48 Fifth Avenue. The Church House designed by Edgar Tafel is on west 12th Street. Tafel is credited with saving some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s important interiors.

Eleventh Street continues to present a remarkably homogeneous and unadulterated appearance — even with the mix of large apartment buildings at the Fifth Avenue end and two early hotels near them on the north side of the street just east of the Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue.

In the perfect alignment of their windows, these row houses, despite changes in height and the joining of two of them (#16 & #18) as one building, contribute to the quality of uniformity so noticeable on this block.  

Each December, the East 11th Street Block Association festoons the block windows with holiday wreaths which highlights and accentuates the row and facades.

Cultural Medallions. The Historical Landmarks Preservation Center places cultural medallions at the front of buildings where notable New Yorkers once lived.  There are cultural medallions on 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and University Place for:

Beatrix Farrand, (1872-1959), the landscape gardener and landscape architect lived at 21 East 11th Street from 1872 to 1913. Her more than 110 commissions included gardens for private residences, estates, parks, botanic gardens, college campuses and the White House. Farrand was one of the founding eleven members, and the only woman member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) — 20 East 11th Street, the cultural medallion proudly proclaims its most famous resident. Eleanor Roosevelt retained this apartment downtown as a pied-a-terre during most of FDR’s presidency, from 1933 to 1942.