Stephen Rex Brown

The Department of Buildings has cleared the way for the demolition of 316 East Third Street, a transitional Federal/Greek Revival-style row house that preservationists have been fighting to keep standing.

Earlier this week, EV Grieve noticed that an application for a demolition permit was listed as approved on the D.O.B.’s Website. A representative at the buildings department confirmed for The Local that an approval was issued on Nov. 1. The developer had not yet picked up the demolition permit as of Thursday evening, but the fate of the 177-year-old building seems to be all but sealed.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said, “It’s extremely disheartening that we’re going to be losing another one of the few, remaining 19th-century houses on the far eastern edge of the East Village. It’s amazing that it survived, and equally amazing how quickly they’re disappearing.”

Mr. Berman found it “perplexing” that the Landmarks Preservation Commission refused to landmark the building, especially since the L.P.C. is “clearly open to expanding landmark designation to the East Village,” he said. In August, The Local published letters between the L.P.C. and the G.V.S.H.P. In one of them, Jenny Fernandez, a director of community relations for the Commission, wrote that the building would not be considered for landmark status because “features have been replaced by more recent, though historic, features in different architectural styles.”

Mr. Berman will now look to the future. “We’re going to highlight the tragedy of this loss and spur the Commission onward to do the job that’s needed to protect the history and character of the East Village.”