The district was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on January 17, 2012.
In the 1820s and 1830s, the area was a desirable and fashionable place to live, especially after the opening of Tompkins Square Park in 1834.
By the mid-1840s, the block consisted largely of row houses, some of which were designed by Joseph Trench, the architect who helped to bring the Italianate style to the United States.
However, by the 1850s the influx of German and Irish immigrants to the area had changed the character of the neighborhood, and the wealthier residents began to move uptown.
Also located in the historic district is the Tompkins Square branch of the New York Public Library, one of the first Carnegie libraries in New York City, which was built in 1904 to the designs of Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White.