New York Songlines: Worth Street

with Oliver Street

Hudson | West Broadway | Church | Broadway | Lafayette | Centre | Mulberry | Mott | Park Row | St James | Henry | Madison St

Worth Street is named for General William Jenkins Worth, namesake of Ft. Worth, Texas. After fighting in the War of 1812, Worth became commandant of cadets at West Point. During the Seminole Wars, he pioneered the targeting of civilian populations and the use of starvation as a tool of warfare. Fighting in the Mexican-American War, he led the capture of Mexico City, and was given command of the newly conquered territories of Texas and New Mexico. He died of cholera in San Antonio in 1849, and was buried in New York City--under Worth Square-- in 1857.

Worth Street was earlier named Catharine Street or Little Catharine Street, apparently considered a western extension of the existing street of that name; part of it was known locally as Cat Hollow. By 1804 it had been renamed Anthony Street, for Anthony Lipsenard, whose father (also named) Anthony owned the Lipsenard Meadows, a large marshy tract in what is now Tribeca, and gave his sons' names to three streets cut through it when it was developed. (The others are Thomas Street and Leonard Street.) Under the name Anthony Street it became notorious as one of the three streets, along with Orange and Cross, that made up what was thought of as the worst intersection in the city--the infamous Five Points. As part of the effort to eradicate this slum, the streets were all renamed--Orange became Baxter Street and Cross is now the block-long Mosco Street. The namesakes of Baxter and Worth were both successful commanders in the Mexican-American War; it's like taking a modern-day intersection with a bad reputation and turning it into the corner of Petraeus and Schwarzkopf.

Oliver Street is named for Oliver de Lancey, brother of James de Lancey, namesake of Delancey Street. A wealthy merchant and politician, Oliver was an officer in the French & Indian War and later served as a brigadier general in the British Army during the Revolutionary War. Like the his brother, Oliver's opposition to independence resulted in exile and the confiscation of his property after the war.









S <===     HUDSON STREET     ===> N

South:

Western Union Building

60 Hudson telco hotel by Shiny Things, on Flickr

Block (60 Hudson): A 1930 Art Deco landmark from Ralph Walker, who also designed what is now the AT&T HQ. Still houses many communications firms; it's been said that "there is probably more bandwidth in and out of this building than any other in the world."

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Corner: Parking lot

1: Six stories built in 1915.

7: Four buildings from c. 1870 joined together in a condo development.











S <===     WEST BROADWAY     ===> N

Worth Street by Chris Korhonen, on Flickr

The block of Worth Street between West Broadway and Church Street is named Justice John M. Harlan Way in honor of the Supreme Court judge, a New York Law School graduate who supported civil rights and the First Amendment. Harlan had the same name as his grandfather who was also on the Supreme Court, where he was a supporter of Reconstruction.

South:





















Corner: Worthy Eyes, optician

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Corner (173 West Broadway): This was the original home of the Worth Street Theater group, now known as the Dog Run Repertory

New York Law School

New York law School by tvol, on Flickr

59 (corner): The main building of an institution founded in 1891 by Columbia Law faculty and students protesting interference by university trustees. Among its early lecturers were Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes, and it counts among its graduates Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, Sen. Robert Wagner and poet Wallace Stevens.


S <===     CHURCH STREET     ===> N

South:

Between 1773 and 1870, the area between Worth (then Anthony) and Duane streets, from Church to Broadway, was the grounds of the New York Hospital. In April 13, 1788, in what came to be known as the Doctors' Riot, a mob of citizens occupied the hospital for two days, outraged over graves being robbed to provide cadavers for medical students.

AT&T Long Lines Building

Corner: AT&T Long Lines Building by Mister V, on Flickr Built in 1974 to house long-distance switching equipment--a giant tower without a single window, inhabited mainly by electronics. Designed to function even after a nuclear war.


Arome Cafe by edenpictures, on Flickr

Corner (325 Broadway): Five-story building from 1915; it houses Arome tasty deli/buffet with a balcony dining area.

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71 (corner): RBC NYC was the first coffee shop on the East Coast to have a Slayer, an $18,000 espresso machine that takes six months to learn how to operate. Don't ask for a decaf espresso--they've never found one that meets their standards.







83: Was Worth Lounge, sleazy dance club, formerly the seedier Tony's of Worth Street.














Corner (335 Broadway): American Savings Bank. Replaces 337 Broadway, the address of the Broadway Museum and Menagerie, where Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins, were on public display between November 1853 and April 1854.


S <===     BROADWAY     ===> N
The boundary between Tribeca and Civic Center

worth street by bgarciagil, on Flickr

The section of Worth Street between Broadway and Centre Street was officially nicknamed "Avenue of the Strongest" in 1996 to honor New York City's sanitation workers.

South:

Federal Plaza

26 Federal Plaza: Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building Federal Plaza by edenpictures, on Flickr
is named for the U.S. senator for New York from 1956 until 1980. He's remembered for his work passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the War Powers Act of 1973. They don't make Republicans like him anymore.

The building, which houses the New York offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the INS), was begun in 1963 to a design by Kahn & Jacobs et al, with an expansion completed 1977.

The cast-iron pylon at the corner is part of a set of four called Manhattan Sentinels, a 1996 sculpture by Barbara Pepper. Federal Plaza in Manhattan by jfhatesmustard, on Flickr

1 Federal Plaza: Part of the Javits com- plex, this wing houses the U.S. Court of International Trade, formerly the U.S. Customs Court, which has jurisdiction over international trade disputes.

NYC #38 by digital_freak, on Flickr

The plaza here was the site of Richard Serra's Tilted Arc, a monumental metal sculpture installed in 1981 that was removed in 1989 due to public antipathy.

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Saranac Apartments by edenpictures, on Flickr

Block (95 Worth): Saranac Apartments are a 16-story building from 2000, named for an Adirondack lake.

On this block, at No. 340-344, was the Broadway Tabernacle, a Presbyterian church founded in 1836 by Rev. Charles Grandison Finney, whose passionate abolitionist sermons led a Saranac by alq666, on Flickr pro-slavery mob to burn down the church. Finney left for Oberlin, Ohio soon after (where he later became president of the college), and his replacement at the rebuilt church was anti-abolition, leading the members to switch denominations to Congregationalist, the first such church in Manhattan. It was the site of many abolitionist meetings, as well as the Women's Rights Movement Convention in September 1853, attended by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and other leading early feminists. Later, in 1856, former President Millard Fillmore was nominated here as the candidate of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party. In 1857, the church sold its building to the Erie Railroad and moved to 6th Avenue and 34th Street.

111: A 2003 apartment building designed by Costas Kondylis for Forest City Ratner. Civic Deli seems to beat out Worth Cafe as the place to go for lunch at this address. Or you can skip lunch and get your hair cut at the City Hall Barber Shop.





S <===     LAFAYETTE STREET     ===> N

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Foley Square

Foley Square, NYC by Phillip Ritz, on Flickr

Named for Tammany Hall leader Big Tom Foley in 1926, a year after his death. Foley, in addition to being an alderman, sheriff, Tammany district leader and a mentor of Alfred Smith, was a saloonkeeper, and his last joint was located where his square is now. In Thomas Paine Park by edenpictures, on Flickr

The park in Foley Square is Thom- as Paine Park, commemorating the great advocate for the American Revolution, who died in New York City in 1809. It was dedicated to Paine in 1977. NYC: US Courthouse and Triumph of Human Spirit by wallyg, on Flickr

The sculpture in the fountain here is called The Triumph of the Human Spirit; the boat-like shape represents the slave trade and all U.S. immigration; the black granite forms that rise above the "boat" are patterned on African antelope carvings. Foley Square, New York City by Zach K, on Flickr

There was an ob- scure TV show called Foley Square, a legal drama that ran for a few months in 1985-86.

See a 360-degree panorama of Foley Square!

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Department of Health, Hospitals & Sanitation

Health Department by edenpictures, on Flickr

Block (75 Cen- tre): A "boxy neo- Class- ical cum Art Deco cube" (AIA Guide put up in 1935 to a Charles B. Meyers design. Bears the names Moses Jenner Ramazzini by edenpictures, on Flickr of health- care pio- neers like Koch, Ehr- lich, Beh- ring, Harvey, Leewenhoek and Billings.































S <===     CENTRE STREET     ===> N

This intersection would have been the southern shore of the Collect Pond before it was filled in.

South:

State Court Building

Corner (60 Centre): NYC - New York County Supreme Courthouse by wallyg, on Flickr
This hexag- onal build- ing with a Roman portico was originally the New York County Courthouse, replacing the Tweed Courthouse. Architect Guy New York State Supreme Court by williamaveryhudson, on Flickr Lowell won a 1912 design com- peti- tion, though the building was not completed until 1927. Above the columns is a quote from George Washington: ...the firmest pillar of good government by kolix, on Flickr "The true admin- istra- tion of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." The sculptures above the pediment represent Law, Truth and Equity. NYC - Civic Center - New York County Courthouse by wallyg, on Flickr

This imposing building often appears in films; Kris Kringle was tried here in Miracle on 34th Street, as was Charlie Sheen in Wall Street. Here Keanu Reeves acted as The Devil's Advocate, Henry Ford was one of Twelve Angry Men serving jury duty, a rival to The Godfather was assassinated on the steps and Ray Liotta testified against the Goodfellas-- to name just a few.

The courthouse is built in part on the site of the Old Brewery, one of the filthiest and overcrowded dwellings in the notorious Five Points slum.












NYC - Civic Center - New York County Courthouse - Authority by wallyg, on Flickr In a plaza between Worth and Pearl streets are two 1906 sculptures by Philip Martiny, Justice and Authority. (Note the fasces, later adopted as the symbol of fascism, in Authority's hand.)



NYC - Civic Center - New York County Courthouse - Justice by wallyg, on Flickr They used to be in front of the Surrogate's Courthouse at Centre and Chambers, but had to be relocated when Centre was widened in 1961.














Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse by edenpictures, on Flickr

500 Pearl: The U.S. Courthouse Annex was built in 1995 and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox with an interesting concave/convex shape.

The courthouse is built on the site of the Grand Duke's Theater, then at the corner of Worth and Baxter. From about 1872 until 1887 it was run by a gang of former bootblacks and newsboys called the Baxter Street Dudes, who would write and perform their own plays, charging 5 cents admission. It became a tourist attraction; supposedly the Grand Duke of Moscovy attended a performance and gave the place its name, though I'm pretty sure this did not actually happen.









Chatham Towers

Chatham Towers by jpchan, on Flickr A 1964 co-op de- signed by Kelly & Gruzen for the Assoc- iation for Middle Income Housing, these 25-floor poured-concrete apartment buildings with a striking serrated profile have been hailed (and condemned) as striking examples of the Brutalist school of architecture.

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Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building

80 (block): Former Collect Pond by stan, on Flickr
This nine- story build- ing, de- signed by William Haugaard, was built from 1928-30 to house state government offices. (A decade earlier, the architect and his brother were shot by a deranged builder who blamed them for his financial ruin.) The building was renamed in 1984 to honor New York state's longest-serving attorney general, in office 1957 to 1978. 5.4.2009 by k_ronmarie, on Flickr The City Clerk and Mar- riage Bureau moved their offices here from the Municipal Building in 2009. NYC: Five Points - Baxter and Worth by wallyg, on Flickr

Cor- ner: This is the only one of Five Points' points--i.e., corners--that is still intact, the others having been altered or removed by the addition or subtraction of streets in slum-clearing efforts.


BAXTER ST         ===> N
Five Points

This intersection--once including the now demapped Park Street--was the center of the most notorious slum in America.

Columbus Park

IMG_1258 Columbus Park, Chinatown by Susan NYC, on Flickr

This park was created in 1897 an effort to destroy the old Five Points neighborhood, considered to be Manhattan's most dangerous slum. (The park's southwest corner was one of the five points.) It was originally laid out by Calvert Vaux, who co-designed Central Park. The pavilion in the north end of the park is part of Vaux's original design. NYC - Chinatown - Columbus Park by wallyg, on Flickr

Earlier known as Mul- berry Bend Park or Five Points Park, it was renamed after Christopher Columbus in 1911 to honor the neighborhood's then-Italian population (though it is not much of an honor to be associated with a conquistador who was personally responsible for the deaths and enslavement of thousands of Native Americans). Columbus Park by _PaulS_, on Flickr

Now the main park of China- town, it's used by practitoners of Tai Chi, Kung Fu and Chinese chess.


MULBERRY ST     ===> N

True Light Lutheran Church by edenpictures, on Flickr

195 (corner): True Light Lutheran Church & School, "the first Chinese Lutheran Church in America," was founded in 1935 as the True Light Mission; this building was constructed in 1948.

1 Mott Street by edenpictures, on Flickr

Corner (1 Mott): A four-story trapezoidal building that occupies the pointy end of an irregular four-sided block. Occupied by a dental clinic called Dr. Toothy's World.


MOTT ST         ===> N

Chatham Square by roboppy, on Flickr

Block (2 Mott): Wing Ming Building, a mirror-surfaced 11-story office tower, built 1978 by a Hong Kong businessman. Houses medical professionals.


W <===     PARK ROW / CHATHAM SQUARE     ===> E

West:

Chatham Green Houses

Chatham Green by stan, on Flickr

185 (block): A 21-story public housing building put up in 1960 with an unusual serpentine form. Designed by Kelly & Gruzen, who also did Chatham Towers; Gruzen did One Police Plaza down the street.


S <===         ST JAMES PL

Corner (59 St. James Pl):




































23: St. James Rectory

Alfred E. Smith House

25: This three-story rowhouse was home to Smith from 1907 until 1924. He became speaker of the New York state assembly, New York County sheriff and then state governor while living here--hence his nickname "The King of Oliver Street." He later became the first Roman Catholic to be a major-party candidate for president, losing to Herbert Hoover in 1928.







31 (corner): Change Chinese Restaurant

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Kimlau Square

NYC - Chinatown: Kimlau Square - Kimlau War Memorial by NYC - Chinatown: Kimlau Square - Kimlau War Memorial, on Flickr

Corner: An island in Chatham Square named for Benjamin Ralph Kimlau, a Chinese-American lieutenant in the Army Air Force who died on a bombing mission near New Guinea in World War II; he's the namesake of Chinatown's American Legion post, the largest in New York City.

The square has a memorial arch for Chinese-Americans who "lost their lives in defense of freedom and democracy," NYC - Chinatown: Kimlau Square - Lin Ze Xu statue by wallyg, on Flickr as well as a statue of Lin Ze Xu, a Chi- nese official who tried to sup- press the opium trade, leading to conflict with Britain's East India Company and the Opium War.

23 Chatham Square: Asia Bank

2: St. Margaret's House is a project of Trinity Church--an old folks' residence with a thrift store and a cafeteria, both open to the public-- the cafeteria is quite inexpensive and has a beautiful outdoor dining area.

Mariner's Temple

Mariner's Temple by niznoz, on Flickr

12 (corner): A Baptist church built in a Greek revival style in 1845, possibly designed by Isaac Lucas. It was intended to serve the spiritual needs of sailors.


HENRY ST         ===> E

PS 1: Alfred E. Smith School

Corner (8 Henry): A public elementary school named for the neighborhood politician who became New York governor and later the first Roman Catholic major-party presidential candidate.

Alfred E. Smith Playground

NYC - Two Bridges: Alfred E. Smith Park by wallyg, on Flickr

Cor- ner: Nam- ed for the near- by school.


W <===     MADISON STREET     ===> E

Alfred E. Smith Houses

Windows by 24gotham, on Flickr

20 Madison Street: Twelve 17-story public housing buildings from 1950--named for the New York governor and presidential candidate.







What am I missing on Howard Street? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

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