Houses at 208–218 East 78th Street

The six brick houses you see here at 208 through 218 East 78th Street are survivors of a much larger speculative venture from the mid-nineteenth century. Originally part of a row of fifteen identical homes, they were built between 1861 and 1865 during the American Civil War. Because of the conflict, labor and building materials were in short supply, which stretched the construction timeline far beyond what was standard for the era. The developer, Howard A. Martin, had purchased the land from the city, which had previously held the plot as part of its common grounds. To make the project feasible, Martin subdivided the land into extremely narrow lots measuring just thirteen feet and four inches across. This efficient use of space was a direct response to the growth of the Third Avenue Railway, which had opened in 1852 and suddenly made this part of the village of Yorkville a viable place for city commuters to live.