Manhattan’s best little holdout buildings

 They’re small, sometimes shabby, reminders of New York City’s ever changing skyline. Holdout buildings have for various reasons dodged the wrecking ball, and today they serve to break up what could be a dull, uniform streetscape. Ephemeral New York has rounded up some of the best holdout buildings in Manhattan. Check out the photos below.

These two 19th-century tenement buildings on West 36th Street have had their side exteriors abused by developers, yet they are still standing.

Massive limestone apartment houses have swallowed up this holdout on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. The little building sits just  across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Once a classic New York townhouse, this holdout on Eighth Avenue at 39th Street has been transformed into a commercial building and painted blue.

This three-story building on lower Seventh Avenue in Chelsea is a bit of a mystery, according to Ephemeral New York. Architecturally the sliver of a building is the same as the Rubin Museum building next door, but it’s painted the same color as the former Loehmann’s store, which is being renovated into a Barneys. [Ephemeral NY] — Christopher Cameron