311 East 58th Street House

History and architecture

This charming two-story and basement house with painted brick walls and stone trim has a clean scrubbed look that is refreshing to behold. Vernacular in style, it has a small wooden stoops raised four steps above the sidewalk, and a sunken front yard, attractively landscaped, enclosed at the property line by a white picket fence. It has escaped the wrecking ball and is a handsome example of the many small, modest houses that once dotted the crosstown streets of New York. Historically anonymous but well maintained, it is today a reminder of the residential architecture of a bygone day.

In 1930, during the construction of a new approach to the Queensborough Bridge just fifty feet east of this house, the roadway and sidewalk in front were raised to meet the grade of the new ramp. To a pedestrian, observing the building from across the street, the house appears to be only two stories high, because the sloping sidewalk and picket fence obscure the large basement areaway. The changes wrought to the stoop and frontyard, due to the raising of the roadway, have actually added to the attractiveness of the house, rather than detracting from Its charm.