Washington Square North
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| Washington Square North | |
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| Maintained by | New York City Department of Transportation, New York City, New York, United States |
| Location | Two-block-long street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States |
| Coordinates: | 40°43′53″N 73°59′50″W / 40.7315°N 73.9971°WCoordinates: 40°43′53″N 73°59′50″W / 40.7315°N 73.9971°W |
| From: | Intersection of Washington Square North (to the west), Waverly Place (to the east), Washington Square East (to the south) and University Place (to the north) |
| Major junctions |
Fifth Avenue |
| To: | Intersection of Waverly Place (to the west), Washington Square North (to the east), Washington Square West (to the south), MacDougal Street (to the north) |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1840s |
Washington Square North, also historically called "The Row", is a American street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.
It presents a unified line of Greek Revival townhouses across from the northern side of Washington Square Park, a 9.75-acre (39,500-square-metre) public urban park.
[edit] History
In the 1840s, New York City's elite established Washington Square, far from the increasingly commercial environment of Lower Manhattan, as the address of choice. Anchored by the mansion of William C. Rhinelander at the center of Washington Square North, "the Row" of Greek Revival town houses on either side of Fifth Avenue presented the unified and dignified appearance of privilege.
When the center of New York City society moved north after the American Civil War, the houses on the square came to represent the gentility of a bygone age. Henry James, whose grandmother lived at 18 Washington Square North, depicted this nostalgic view in his tragicomedy novel, Washington Square (1881). Today, most of the buildings belong to New York University's campus facilities.
[edit] Washington Square North 1–3
Perhaps no building in New York City is more closely associated with a single artist than this 1830s row house. From 1913 until his death in May 1967, the artist Edward Hopper and his wife, Josephine Hopper, lived in a studio on the building's top floor. Chosen for its low rent and the artist's belief that his hero, the American artist Thomas Eakins had painted there, Hopper and his wife leased rooms having neither heat nor private bath. They decorated their rooms simply, with pieces of early-American furniture.
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Washington Square North (Manhattan) |
