Surma Book and Music Company

11 East 7th Street | East Village | built 1871

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1861

    Small one-story buildings owned by John Tremble stand on the lots of 11 and 13 East 7th Street

    Tax records show that by 1861 a small one-story house or stable stood on the lot where 11 East 7th Street now rises, and another on the lot next door, both owned by John Tremble and each valued at $3,000. Between 1869 and 1870 each lot rose in value to $7,000 with unchanged dimensions, which may mean stories were added. By 1871 the records list a five-story structure here, and the lot is valued at $12,000.

    “…small 1-story houses or stables existed on this property and its neighbor (No. 13, Lot 51) as early as 1861 (both owned by John Tremble; valued at $3,000 each)…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1871

    William H. Hoffman designs a five-story Italianate tenement for John Tremble at 11 East 7th Street

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    The tenement dates to about 1871 and was designed by William H. Hoffman, with John Tremble listed as its original owner. It rises five stories, with round-arched windows on the top floor and a cornice with leafy brackets and a central cartouche. At the main entrance, cast-iron pilasters carry Corinthian capitals. Its molded lintels were later stripped, and the masonry was covered in brickface after the 1940s.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1918

    The Surma Book and Music Company opens at 11 East 7th Street as a Ukrainian shop

    In 1918 the Surma Book and Music Company, a Ukrainian store, opens in this tenement, which had been built in 1871. Village Preservation's building page calls it a family-owned business specializing in Ukrainian folk art, and lists the address under its Ukrainian tag.

    Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org

  4. 2016

    Surma, the oldest Ukrainian bookstore in the United States, closes in 2016 after nearly a century on East 7th Street

    The shop that Myron and Anastasia Surmach opened on East 7th Street closes in 2016, after Myron had come to New York in 1910. Its stock included books, greeting cards, honey and Ukrainian folk sheet music, and it was here that their daughter, the artist Yaroslava Surmach Mills, first sold her drawings as greeting cards. Village Preservation calls it the oldest Ukrainian bookstore in the country until it closed.

    Source: Village Preservation

Further reading

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