Page 113 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

GREENWICH VILLA GE  111

y Judson The square was used as a
Memorial dueling ground for a time,
then as a site for public
Church hangings until 1819. The
55 Washington Sq S. Map 4 D2. “hanging elm” in the northwest
Tel (212) 477-0351. q W 4th St. corner remains. In 1826 the
Open 10am–1pm & 2–6pm Mon–Fri. marsh was filled in and the
5 11am Sun. ∑ judson.org brook diverted underground,
where it still flows; a small
Built in 1892, this McKim, Mead sign on a fountain at the
& White church is an impressive entrance to Two Fifth Avenue
Italianate building with stained marks its course.
glass by John La Farge. The magnificent marble
Designed by Stanford White, arch by Stanford White
it is named after the first was completed in 1892 and
American missionary sent replaced an earlier wooden
to foreign soil, Adoniram arch that spanned lower Fifth
Bust of Sylvette by Picasso, between Judson, who served in Burma Avenue to mark the centenary
Bleecker and West Houston streets in 1811. A copy of his Burmese of George Washington’s
trans lation of the Bible was put inauguration. A stairway is
t New York in the cornerstone when the hidden in the right side of the
University building was dedicated. arch. In 1916, a group of artists
led by Marcel Duchamp and
It is the unique spirit of this
Washington Sq. Map 4 E2. Tel (212) church, not the architecture, John Sloan broke in, climbed
998-1212, (212) 998-4636. that makes it stand out. Judson atop the arch, and declared the
q W 4th St. ∑ nyu.edu Memorial Church has played an “free and independent republic
active role in local and world of Washington Square, the
Originally called the University concerns and has been the state of New Bohemia.”
of the City of New York, NYU site of activism on issues Across the street is “the
was founded in 1831 as an ranging from AIDS to the Row.” Now part of NYU, this
alternative to Episcopalian arms race. It is also home to block was once home to New
Columbia University. It is now avant-garde art exhibitions York’s most prominent families.
the largest private university in and Off-Off-Broadway plays. The Delano family, writers Edith
the US and extends for blocks Wharton, Henry James, and
around Washington Square. The John Dos Passos, and artist
visitor center is on West 4th St. Edward Hopper all lived here.
Construction of the school’s No. 8 was once the mayor’s
first building on Waverly Place official home.
sparked the Stone cutters’ Today, street entertainers,
Guild Riot of 1833, in which students, families, and free
contractors protested the use spirits mingle and enjoy the
of inmates from a state prison park side by side.
to cut stone. The National Guard
were brought in to restore
order. The original building no
longer exists, but a memorial
with a piece of the original
tower is on a pedestal set into Arch on the north side of
the pavement on Washington Washington Square
Square South. Samuel Morse’s
telegraph, John W. Draper’s first u Washington
ever photographic portrait, and
Samuel Colt’s six-shooter were Square
invented here. Map 4 D2. q W 4th St.
The Brown Building, on
Washington Place near Greene This vibrant open space was
Street, was the site of the once marshland through
Triangle Shirtwaist Company. which the quiet Minetta
In 1911, 146 factory workers Brook flowed. By the late
died in a fire here, leading to 1700s, the area had been
new fire safety and labor laws. turned into a public cemetery –
A 36-ft (11-m) enlargement when excavation began for
of Picasso’s Bust of Sylvette can the park, some 10,000 skeletal Window on the corner of West 4th Street
be found in University Village. remains were exhumed. and Washington Square

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