Can I explore the district without entering the houses?
Yes. This self-guided route uses public sidewalks to compare the historic rows. The buildings are private homes and other occupied residential properties. Stay outside gates, yards, stoops and vestibules, and use intersection crossings.
01 · Start at 21st Street.
Open the interactive district map and the official LPC boundary map. The designation follows particular lots; the entire intersection and every adjoining parcel are not automatically included. On the north side, the documented groups begin at 21-09.
Look east along the roofline before concentrating on a door. Notice how building height, raised entrances and the spacing of openings produce a common rhythm even when the individual façades differ.
Sources: LPC · Official district map ↗
02 · The first Italianate row.
The first five-house group was recorded as an Italianate development of 1871–72. Compare its main wall, lower level, entrances and projecting cornice. These are useful parts to name when you later discuss a particular house with an inspector or architect.
The historic inventory then continues at 21-21. The absence of a separate 21-19 entry should not be turned into a claim that an unidentified property is excluded; follow the mapped lots and documented groups.
Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗ · LPC · Official district map ↗
03 · Compare the stone rows.
At the north-side stone row, compare the entrances with the counterpart at 21-12–21-20 across the street. LPC recorded Westchester stone fronts and composition-stone balustrades and railings. At street level, concentrate on proportions, workmanship and how the stoop joins the façade.
Do not cross midblock for a closer view. The return leg brings you to the south row using intersection crossings. Read the north stone-row profile as you compare.
04 · Two brick groups.
Continue past 21-31–21-39, then 21-41–21-51. The latter group was described with a simpler Italianate treatment and narrow lots. A reported lot width is not the house’s usable interior width.
Look for differences in window surrounds, the way entrances meet the sidewalk and the continuity of the cornice. An altered entrance is a question for later records research; it does not reveal the building’s legal unit count.
05 · Mansards and the 23rd Street turn.
At 21-53–21-55, the roof becomes the defining feature. The report identifies Second Empire forms with slate mansards and dormers. Compare that silhouette with the cornice-led brick rows you have just passed.
Turn north onto the west-side sidewalk of 23rd Street. Follow the included 44-70–44-78 row from the corner toward 44-70. The shallow bow fronts and terra-cotta details give this short return its own expression. The district does not continue indefinitely north.
Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗ · LPC · Official district map ↗
06 · The apartment houses.
Retrace the short 23rd Street segment and use the intersection crossing to reach the south-side sidewalk. Begin westbound with 21-48 and 21-42–21-46. LPC described these as apartment-house forms dating to 1889.
Look at the height, angular bays, surface patterns and metal cornices. This part of the walk makes an important buyer distinction visible: the district is a residential ensemble, not an inventory of identical single-family townhouses.
07 · The wood houses.
Continue west past the gabled wood-house group and the individual frame house. Compare the roof shapes and the transitions between the main walls and lower levels.
08 · The south-side brick and stone rows.
At 21-22–21-32, look toward the cornices: LPC singled out Neo-Grec bracket details. Then finish at the south-side stone row, 21-12–21-20, and revisit the comparison you began across the avenue.
Related guides
Sources
- LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗Pages 1–3: boundary, hearing and history; pages 3–6: the historical building inventory.
- LPC · Official district map ↗The designated property-line boundary, distinct from the larger neighborhood.