Page 109 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

GREENWICH VILLA GE  107

south of 14th Street and west of The Draft Riots of 1863 took moved, court sessions had been
9th Avenue, the neighborhood is place here. Over a century later, discontinued, the four-sided
now dotted with trendy clubs, another disturbance rocked clock had stopped, and the
lounges, and boutique hotels the square. The Stone wall building was threatened
that swell with New Yorkers Inn on Christopher Street with demolition. In the 1950s,
out for a good time. The (the inn that stands today preservationists campaigned
neighborhood’s hipness is not the original) was first to restore the clock and
factor rose when Soho a gay bar, at a time then the whole building. Its
House, the New York when such bars were renovation was undertaken by
branch of the London illegal, that had stayed architect Giorgio Cavaglieri, who
private members’ club, in business by paying off preserved many of the original
moved in, followed by the the police. On June 28, details, including the stained
classy Hotel Gansevoort, 1969, the patrons glass and a spiral staircase
with its rooftop swimming rebelled, and in the that now leads to the library’s
pool. Fashion able designers, pitched battle that dungeonlike reference room.
including Stella McCartney and ensued police officers
Marc Jacobs, have outlets here; were barricaded inside
upscale restaurants the bar. It was a
have opened; and new landmark victory
nightclubs and bars for the budding gay
pop up every month. rights movement
The great allures of and the Village
the Meatpacking District Statue of General Sheridan remains a focus
are the Whitney in Christopher Park for the city’s gay
Museum of American community.
Art (see pp108–9), and the High
Line (see p134), which begins on
Gansevoort Street. The face of the 8 Jefferson Market
neighborhood may be forever Courthouse
changed, but club-hoppers might
still catch the occasional whiff of 425 Ave of the Americas. Map 4 D1.
the meat-processing business that Tel (212) 243-4334. q W 4th
gave the area its name. St-Washington Sq. Open 10am–8pm
Mon & Wed, 11am–6pm Tue & Thu, “Old Jeff,” the pointed tower of Jefferson
10am–5pm Fri & Sat. Closed public Market Courthouse
hols. 7 ∑ nypl.org
This treasured Village landmark 9 Patchin Place
was saved from the wrecking W 10th St. Map 4 D1. q W 4th St-
ball and converted into a branch Washington Sq.
of the New York Public Library
through a spirited preservation One of many delightful and
campaign that began at a unexpected pockets in the
Christmas party in the late 1950s. Village is this tiny block of small
In 1833 the site became a residences. It is lined with
market named after former ailanthus trees that were
president Thomas Jefferson. Its planted in order to “absorb the
fire lookout tower had a giant bad air.” The houses were built in
bell that was rung to alert the the mid-19th century for Basque
A busy street in the trendy neighborhood’s volunteer waiters working at the Brevoort
Meatpacking District firefighters. In 1865, the Hotel on Fifth Avenue.
founding of the municipal fire Later, the houses became
department made the bell fashionable addresses, with
7 Sheridan Square obsolete, and the Third Judicial many writers living here. The
District, or Jefferson Market, poet E. E. Cummings lived at No.
Map 3 C2. q Christopher St- Courthouse was built. With its 4 from 1923 until his death in
Sheridan Sq.
Venetian Gothic-style spires and 1962. The English poet laureate
This square, where seven streets turrets, it was named one of the John Masefield also lived on the
converge, is the heart of the ten most beautiful buildings in block, as did the playwright
Village. It was named for the the country when it opened in Eugene O’Neill and John Reed,
Civil War General Philip Sheridan, 1877. The old fire bell was whose eyewitness account of
who became commander in installed in the tower. Here, in the Russian Revolution, Ten Days
chief of the US Army in 1883. 1906, Harry Thaw was tried for That Shook The World was made
His statue stands in nearby Stanford White’s murder (see into a film, Reds (1981), directed
Christopher Park. p122). By 1945, the market had by Warren Beatty.

106-107_EW_New_York_City.indd 107 4/3/17 11:11 AM