East Village Architecture

The East Village's reputation for quirkiness is evinced not only by its residents and sites but also in the many incongruous structures that somehow coexist so easily that they often go unnoticed. Keep your eyes open as you explore the streets. You never know what might turn up. Look up to see the giant copper statue of Vladimir Lenin that salutes the world from atop a building on Norfolk Street, just south of Houston (it was moved in 2016 from its previous home on the top of 250 Houston Street). Not far away is the shingled Cape Cod–style house perched on the apartment building at the northwest corner of Houston and 1st Avenue, one of the city's many unique rooftop retreats (it's best viewed from the east). Then there's the hidden-in-plain-sight New York Marble Cemetery (www.marblecemetery.org), established in the 1830s on 2nd Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets, where thousands are interred in underground, marble-lined vaults that were thought to prevent the spread of disease in a time marked by cholera epidemics. The gardens are surrounded by 12-foot walls made of Tuckahoe marble, and entered through wrought-iron gates. It's open to the public every fourth Sunday, April through October.