So back in July we reported that the long-dormant pit also-known-as 427. E. 12th St. is primed for a six-story, 11-unit residence courtesy of Montreal-based architect Karl Fischer ...
Until that soulless glass coffin goes up, you have the chance to enjoy not one but two backhouses. In a post yesterday,
Off The Grid — the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation — wrote about the history of backhouses ... namely "residential structures which are separate from and located behind other buildings (usually, but not always, residential buildings) which face the street."
Here's a look at them via Google...
Let's go back to Off the Grid for more.
"The newly- (and temporarily-) revealed backhouses at 425 and 429 East 12th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A, present a variation on these backhouse scenarios, one which we believe may be somewhat rare. The four-story front-buildings at 425 and 429 were both built in 1852, and appear to be very early, purpose-built tenements (i.e. they were built as tenements, not structures built as single-family homes which were converted to multi-family housing).
Off the Grid has more photos, history... as well as a street map from 1853. Find all that
here.