Stuyvesant Square Historic District
Why it's listed
Stuyvesant Square Historic District covers the blocks around the southern and western sides of Stuyvesant Square Park on Manhattan's lower east side. It contains almost 50 row houses, a church, a seminary and several apartment and commercial buildings, most built in the late nineteenth century after the park was laid out in 1836. The row houses are mainly Greek Revival and Italianate, built by architect-builders as speculative housing; one, at 245 East 17th Street, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in 1883. On the west side of the park stand St. George's Church, an early Romanesque Revival building of brown sandstone, and the Friends Meeting House and Seminary of 1860-61, which echo earlier Federal and Greek Revival styles. Many houses have been altered, yet the area still reads as a low-scaled residential neighborhood around a small square. Its significance lies in preserving the character of a once-fashionable pre-Civil War district that commercial development erased elsewhere downtown. The park's fence and fountains survive from its original plan.
Significance in brief: The district keeps the scale and feel of a fine 19th-century residential neighborhood focused on a small park. Its buildings show a range of mid- to late-19th-century styles, including Greek Revival, Italianate, Romanesque Revival and some of the few remaining Anglo-Italianate houses in New York City. It recalls the pre-Civil War period when the area around 14th Street was a fashionable district of brownstone homes and churches.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 80002723, listed November 21, 1980. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Nathan D. Perleman Pl., 3rd Ave., E. 18th and E. 15th Sts., New York |
|---|---|
| County | Manhattan |
| Listed | November 21, 1980 |
| Reference number | 80002723 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Richard Morris Hunt (245 East 17th Street, 1883); Charles Bunting (builder, Friends Meeting House and Seminary); Chapman, Evans and Delahanty (1963-65 intrusion) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Italianate, Romanesque Revival, Anglo-Italianate |
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition marked good and altered; many row houses have lost stoops and details, and two intrusions are noted. |
| Acreage | 9 |
| Coordinates | 40.73398, -73.98468 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 80002723.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.