Washington Street (Manhattan)

Coordinates: 40°43′22″N 74°00′37″W / 40.72278°N 74.01028°W

These Federal-style townhouses at 651–655 Washington Street are located within the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension

Washington Street is a north-south street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Running from 14th Street in the Meatpacking District at its northernmost end to its southern end at Hubert Street in TriBeCa, Washington Street is, for most of its length, the westernmost street in lower Manhattan other than West Street (except for a one-block segment in the West Village where Weehawken Street lies between West and Washington Streets).

Main east-west streets crossed include (from north to south) Christopher Street, Houston Street and Canal Street; neighborhoods traversed include the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Hudson Square and TriBeCa. At points north of Canal Street, traffic on Washington Street travels south; at points south of Canal Street, it travels north.

History

Washington Street was named for George Washington, first President of the United States. The land under the street was owned by Trinity Church, and was ceded to the city in 1808.^[1]

Until the 1940s, a stretch of Washington Street, especially from Battery Place to Rector Street, was the home of the city's Little Syria neighborhood, which consisted primarily of Christian Arab immigrants from present day Lebanon and Syria. The neighborhood and its homes, then described by The New York Times as the "heart of New York's Arab world", were condemned and razed to make way for the approaches to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which opened in 1950.^[2]

Notable structures

The end of the High Line Park at Gansevoort and Washington Streets; in the background is the Standard Hotel

• 7 World Trade Center – a skyscraper built on the site of one of the same name destroyed in the September 11 attacks
• High Line – linear park
• Newgate Prison – the state's first penitentiary from 1797–1829
• The Standard, High Line – luxury hotel
• Verizon Building – utility building between Barclay and Vesey Streets
• Washington Street Plaza – pedestrian plaza between Carlisle and Albany Streets
• Westbeth Artists Community – former Bell Labs facility converted to residential and artists' spaces

Transportation

Because Washington Street is so far west, public transportation in the immediate area is scarce. The crosstown M8 bus crosses Washington Street in both directions, westbound on Christopher Street and eastbound on West 10th Street; the crosstown M21 bus runs south on Washington Street between Houston Street and Spring Street before turning back east.

Subway stations nearest to Washington Street include (from north to south) the 14th Street – Eighth Avenue station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line and the BMT Canarsie Line (A C E L trains) and the Christopher Street – Sheridan Square, Houston Street, Canal Street and Franklin Street stations on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (1 2 trains).

References

Notes

1. Moscow, Henry. The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan's Street Names and Their Origins. New York: Hagstrom, 1978. ISBN 0823212750, p.108
2. Dunlap, David W. "When an Arab Enclave Thrived Downtown", The New York Times, August 24, 2010. Accessed August 25, 2010.

External links

• Washington Street: A New York Songline – virtual walking tour
• Save Washington Street – A campaign to preserve the remnant of lower Washington Street in Manhattan