New York Songlines: Fifteenth Street

South:

W

1
5
T
H

North:

South:

The High Line

Corner: Bridging the street here is a disused elevated railroad that was used to transport freight along the Westside waterfront, replacing the street-level tracks at 10th and 11th avenues that earned those roads the nickname "Death Avenue." Built in 1929 at a cost of $150 million (more than $2 billion in today's dollars), it originally stretched from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal, now the Holland Tunnel rotary. Partially torn down in 1960 and abandoned in 1980, it now stretches from Gansevoort almost to 34th--mostly running mid-block, so built to avoid dominating an avenue with an elevated platform. In its abandonment, the High Line became something of a natural wonder, overgrown with weeds and even trees, accessible only to those who risk tresspassing on CSX Railroad property. Plans are underway to turn it into a park, open to the public; it will be a tricky balancing act to add safety and amenities without sacrificing the lost ruin quality that makes it so cool.

450: Milk Studios Building is an 8-story brick building from 1936, once part of the Nabisco complex. It's named for Milk Studios & Gallery, which has done cover shots for Vanity Fair and Vogue and is also a noted event space. Also in the building is Phillips de Pury & Co., world headquarters of an auction house founded in 1796 by Harry Phillips, (senior clerk of James Christie), and merged in 1999 with the Zurich-based art gallery de Pury & Luxembourg. Phillips has held auctions for Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Beau Brummel, and is the only house to have conducted an auction at Buckingham Palace. Also home to the luxury retailer Jeffrey.

440: CECO, "the only full-service rental facility in New York catering to the commercial, film, and television production communities."

436: Passerby, unmarked art-scene bar that's home to Toby Cecchini, who invented the modern Cosmopolitan (and wrote a bartending memoir of the same name).

418: Wooster Projects was Baumgartner Galleries

410: The Sound Lounge, home of Compound Sound.

408: Site of the Crisco Disco, a late 1970s- early '80s dance club. The character "Flash" in the Blondie song "Rapture" is supposedly based on a coke dealer who worked out of here.

406: The adddress of 10-year-old Gracie Budd, who in 1928 was abducted and killed by serial killer Albert Fish.

404 (corner): Prince Lumber, an honest-to-God lumberyard

W
E
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Former Nabisco bakeries (where Oreos were invented in 1912) is now a gourmet mall; features independent establishments like Fat Witch brownies, the Green Table organic wine bar, Hugh McMahon the Pumpkin Man, Amy's Bread, Manhattan Fruit Exchange, Buonitalia and much more. Major League Baseball Productions is also based here; the studios of NY1, New York's local cable news channel, relocated here in 2002. The tricky conversion from aging factory to stylish mall was handled by Jeff Vandeberg.

South:

The Porter House

366 (corner): A 1905 yellow-brick Renaissance Revival warehouse--originally built for wine importer Julius Wile--with a similarly sized expansion that resembles the Borg cube grafted onto it, slightly displaced to the south. The zinc face of the new section has vertical lights built in to complete the futuristic look--it's very Minority Report. The 2003 conversion is by Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP. It's named for the steak--because it's near a famous steakhouse, and because it's (sort of) in the meatpacking district.

346: Poet Allen Ginsberg lived here in 1951-52.

342: Has a funky roof

324: Corlears School (private; pre K-5)

322: Writer James Agee lived here (1939-41) above a bar whose jukebox played nothing but "Roll Out the Barrel." Now El Cid Bar, lively Spanish restaurant.

308: Symbolist painter Albert Pinkham Ryder lived in a building at this former address, c. 1896-1909. An interview with him published during this period was headlined "Paragraphs from the Studio of a Recluse."

W
E
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Port Authority Building

Corner (111 8th Ave): This block-filling building, originally known as the Union Inland Terminal No. 1, was built by the Port Authority in 1932 to relieve congestion by consolidating and redistributing truck shipments. When built, it may have had more cubic space than any building in the world--later surpassed by the Pentagon. To make the project self-supporting, the upper floors were designed to be rented out to private businesses, which set a legal precedent for public entities engaging in commercial transactions. It also served as the headquarters for the Port Authority until they moved to the World Trade Center.

Includes St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Care Unit at No. 325.

South:

262: Flamingo One-Hour Photo

258: Le Petit Bistro, formerly one of the Le Gamins--tiny, casual French

232: Writer Theodore Dreiser moved here in 1897.

222: This tall building was used for rooftop shots in Spider-Man 2.

218: Nazareth Day Nursery--Montessori

200 (corner): An orange brick building c. 1930, part of developer Henry Mandel's Chelsea Corners project that aimed to create a white-collar neighborhood along 7th Avenue; hampered by the Depression, only four of a planned 17 buildings were completed. This one has Assyrian-style ornamentation.

W
E
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T

North:

Corner (102 8th Ave): Vnyl, part of a mini-chain of Thai-inflected faux diners; the Skittle-colored decor is the big draw, including bathrooms that are shrines to Cher and Elvis. Used to be Diner 24, before that Doherty's Coffee House.

237: Nutri Sport

207-215: Site of St. Joseph's Home for the Aged, run by the Society of St. Vincent De Paul.

205: The Chelsmore, Art Deco apartment building

Corner: Sabon, natural bath products chain, was Tah-Poozie, cool toy store

South:

Vermeer Apartments

Corner (77 7th Ave): This 1964 building has a reproduction of a Vermeer in the lobby. Westside Market on the ground floor.

158: Dragon Fly's Electric Tattoo Gallery, noted tattoo studio

144: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), since 2002 in the former St. Zita's Convent, dated 1928

138: Eastern Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America, a group dedicated to the spiritual teachings of Rudolf Steiner.

120: Newish, uglyish development

112: Brick tenement

110: Well-preserved brownstone

108: Stonehenge Gardens, a tantalizing gated courtyard

W
E
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Corner (79-89 7th Ave): Jensen Lewis, funky furniture store. This was the address of Street & Smith, publishers of Astounding Stories, the classic science fiction pulp edited by John W. Campbell, who discovered such writers as Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, A.E. Van Vogt and Theodore Sturgeon. Astounding-- now known as Analog--also published L. Ron Hubbard's first Dianetics material in 1950.

147: Was Man Ray, restaurant owned by Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and Sean Penn--closed 2004 amidst neighborhood ire at the noisy nightspot.

145: Was Puerto Rican Family Institute (intermediate school, 7-9 grades)

139: Writer Hart Crane lived here when he first came to New York from Cleveland in 1916, at the age of 16.

135: Was Casa Johnny, Italian restaurant noted in the 1939 WPA Guide.

123: A 2007 condo development with a curved terrace. Replaced a building, rented by German opera star Martha Held, that became a hideout for German spies and saboteurs in the years before World War I. The sabotage of New Jersey's Black Tom Wharf, which caused an explosion on July 29, 1916 that broke most of the windows in lower Manhattan, is said to have been plotted here.

121: Terrapin Industries describes itself as "a totally unique location for film/video, photography shoots and special events." "Unique" it is: It has a model of the Yangtze River stocked with koi on the living room floor, and the sky from Van Gogh's Starry Night reproduced in marbles on a bedroom ceiling. Looks cool.

117: The Marshall, brownstone

South:

64 (corner): 6th Avenue Bicycles

60: Kidding Around, New York's best toy store for 2003

58: Man's Country, a gay bathhouse that is said to have had nine or ten floors of orgies. (A reader says that it actually only used the top two or three floors, and was down the street where No. 22 is now.) In any case, it closed in 1983.

50: Oculus Condominium, built 2007

46: Margaret Sanger had an early birth control clinic here.

22: Grosvenor House houses Tibet House, a cultural center affiliated with the Dalai Lama.

Corner (96 5th Ave): Site of Il Martello-- "the hammer"--Carlo Tresca’s anarchist newspaper

W
E
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T

North:

Corner: The Left Bank apartments

31: New York Joint Board, associated with the UNITE trade union.

29: Anahid Sofian Studio, belly-dancing classes

27: Writer Thomas Wolfe lived here in 1928, where he finished Look Homeward, Angel.

Corner: Anarchist publisher Carlo Tresca was assassinated on this corner by the Mafia, 1943-- perhaps on the orders of Mussolini.

South:

Corner (11-15 Union Square East): Labor-owned Amalgamated Bank was a regrettable modernization of Tiffany's jewelry store (1870-1905), which was designed by John Kellum to resemble a Venetian palace. It's being made over again in 2008. A previous occupant was James Renwick's Church of the Puritans.

E

1
5
T
H

S
T

North:

7: Was the Rand School of Social Science, the first major workers' school, founded 1906; it was here from 1917 until it closed in 1956. It taught history, economics and labor organizing with teachers like John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, Charles Beard and Stephen Vincent Benet. It also served as the National HQ of the Socialist Party. Originally built in 1887 as a YWCA by R.W. Robertson. Rand's Mayer London Library is now NYU's Tamiment Library.

21: Poet e.e. cummings lived here briefly in 1917, the year his first published poems appeared.

Gandhi statue

1986 statue by Kantilal Patel commemorates Union Square's tradition of protest.

Temperance

Statue near western entrance to the park was intended to promote sobriety.

South:

Zeckendorf Towers

This entire block is taken up by the pyramid-topped 1987 project by Davis, Brody & Associates. The northwest corner of the block was the Union Square Hotel, a celebrity haunt in its day.

On this block was the Hotel America, popular with Latin American visitors. It appears in O. Henry's ''The Gold That Glitters'' as the ''Hotel Espanol.''

108: Vineyard Theatre is part of the Zeckendorf complex, a nod to the theatrical history of this area. Avenue Q and Edward Albee's Three Tall Women started here.

120: Link; loungey bar

North:

Daryl Roth Theater

Corner (20 Union Sq E): Designed for the Union Square Savings Bank by Henry Bacon, best known for D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial. Now the theater where De La Guarda is experienced.

103: DR2; annex to the Daryl Roth Theater

105: Impressive columns on this c. 1900 building.

Century Center for the Performing Arts

111: Built in 1869 for the Century Association, an elite club founded by William Cullen Bryant and named for its 100 members. Noted architect H.H. Richardson had at least some input into the design, making this his only Manhattan building--albeit not a terribly exciting one.

115: Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute

117: Belmont Lounge; yuppie bar

119: Polish Army Veterans of America; features 119 Bar

Corner (15 Irving Place): Galaxy Global Eatery; snazzy restaurant features hemp cooking.

South:

Con Edison Building

Designed by Henry Hardenbergh, 1914. Clock tower added 1926-29.

Corner: East end of Con Ed building and parking lot was Tammany Hall from 1867-1917, when the corrupt political club was at height of power. Hosted 1868 Democratic convention. Ground floor was Tony Pastor's Music Hall, popular variety show venue.

E

1
5
T
H

North:

123: Seafarers and International House

125: Shades of Green, "the warmest pub I have ever been in, with a remarkable chef," says a Songlines reader.

129: Revival

139: Hart Crane rented a room here when he first came to New York as a 16-year-old poet.

South:

Friends Seminary

220: Quaker institution is housed in what was the German Masonic Temple; now the Friends Seminary.

230: Building from NYC's ugly white brick period replaced No. 234, where painter William Merritt Chase died, October 25, 1916. He was an influential art teacher, counting Georgia O'Keefe among his students.

240: This building was the home of artist Reginald Marsh.

244-246 (corner): St. Mary’s Catholic Church Byantine Slavonic Rite (1982)

E
A
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Friends Meetinghouse

221: A beautiful brick building built in 1860 by the Hicksites, a group of Quakers who separated from the main congregation to pursue more traditional forms of worship. The two groups reconciled in 1958, resulting in the closing of the meetinghouse on Gramercy Park (now a synagogue).

RUTHERFORD PL     ===> N

North:

Stuyvesant Square

The land for this park was donated to St. George's Church by Peter G. Stuyvesant, a descendant of the Dutch colonial governor, and turned into an English-style park in 1836. Somehow it's failed to become the kind of vibrant public space represented by Union, Tompkins, Washington or even Madison squares; perhaps it's the bisection by 2nd Avenue, or the forbidding if historic fence. Maybe the neighborhood, dominated by hospitals, just isn't so lively.

The western half of the park features a 1936 sculpture of Gov. Stuyvesant by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Ironically, he's facing the meeting house of the Quakers, a denomination he persecuted in life.

South:

Corner: Manhattan Comprehensive Night & Day School

318: Site of Salvation Army's William Booth Memorial Hospital, founded in 1892 as a maternity house called The Rescue. The institution is now the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens. This address is now Booth House, apartments named for the hospital.

320: NYU's Strang Clinic

E
A
S
T

1
5
T
H

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Stuyvesant Square

The eastern half of the park has a statue of composer Anton Dvorak, which was put up in compensation when Beth Israel tore down his nearby house.

PERLMAN PL     ===> N

North:

Bernstein Pavilion

321: Part of Beth Israel; built on the site of New York Infirmary for Women & Children--started in 1850s by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, and located here from 1875 until 1981.

High School for Health Professions

Formerly Stuyvesant High School, one of New York's top public high schools; now located near Ground Zero.

Corner (259 1st Ave): Far East Oriental Restaurant; 1st Avenue is pretty far east.

South:

Con Edison

Pollution from this power plant has been blamed for high rates of asthma in the neighborhood.

At the foot of East 15th Street in the 1930s was the Willard Parker Hospital for Communicable Diseases.

E

1
5
T
H

North:

Con Edison