551 East 12th Street
also 196 Avenue B | East Village | built 1930
Open on the map2 entries
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.
- 1848
John R. Roberts builds a four-story building at 196 Avenue B
John R. Roberts built this building in 1848, and records suggest it originally stood four stories high. A fifth story had been added by 1911. The red-brick facade has sandstone trim and a bracketed cornice.
- 1962
Stanley Tolkin opens a bohemian bar on the ground floor
Stanley's Bar occupied the ground floor here from 1962 to 1966 and became a center of the East Village underground community. Owner Stanley Tolkin offered inexpensive drinks and live piano music. Patrons included poets and writers such as Allen Ginsberg, Ishmael Reed, and Ed Sanders.
Further reading
- 551 East 12th Street; 196 Avenue BVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
- 198 Avenue BVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
Nearby
- 202 Avenue B1 entry
- 548 East 13th Street1 entry
- 185 Avenue B3 entries
- Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Chapel545 East 11th Street | 5 entries
- 520 East 12th Street1 entry
- Bathhouse Studios538 East 11th Street | 5 entries