Christopher Street is a street in the
West VillageGreenwich Village , often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
neighborhood of the
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
boroughNew York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is segmented into five boroughs. A borough is a unique form of government that administers the five fundamental constituent parts of the consolidated city...
of
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
, and was at the center of New York's gay rights movement in the late 1970s. To this day the street serves as a symbol of
gay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
.
Christopher Street is the oldest street in the West Village, as it ran along the south boundary of Admiral Sir Peter Warren's estate, which abutted the old Greenwich Road (now Greenwich Avenue) to the east and extended north to the next landing on the North River, at present-day Gansevoort Street.
Christopher Street is a street in the
West VillageGreenwich Village , often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
neighborhood of the
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
boroughNew York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is segmented into five boroughs. A borough is a unique form of government that administers the five fundamental constituent parts of the consolidated city...
of
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
, and was at the center of New York's gay rights movement in the late 1970s. To this day the street serves as a symbol of
gay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
.
Christopher Street is the oldest street in the West Village, as it ran along the south boundary of Admiral Sir Peter Warren's estate, which abutted the old Greenwich Road (now Greenwich Avenue) to the east and extended north to the next landing on the North River, at present-day Gansevoort Street. The street was briefly called Skinner Road after Colonel William Skinner, Sir Peter's son-in-law. The street received its current name in 1799, when the Warren land was acquired by Warren's eventual heir, Charles Christopher Amos. Charles Street remains, but Amos Street is now 10th Street.
The road ran past the churchyard wall of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields (built 1820-22; rebuilt after a fire, 1981-85) still standing on its left, down to the ferry landing, commemorated in the block-long Weehawken Street (laid out in 1829), the shortest street in the West Village. At the Hudson River, with its foundation in the river and extending north to 10th Street, Newgate Prison, the first New York State Prison, occupied the site, 1796-1829, when the institution was removed to
Sing SingSing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in the Village of Ossining, Town of Ossining, New York, United States. It is located approximately 30 miles north of New York City on the banks of the Hudson River...
and the City plotted and sold the land. West Street is more recent filled land, but the procession of boats that had made the inaugural pass through the
Erie CanalThe Erie Canal is a man-made waterway in New York that runs about 363 miles from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes...
stopped at the ferry dock at the foot of Christopher Street, 4 November 1825, where it was met by a delegation from the city; together they proceeded to the Lower Bay, where the cask of water brought from the Great Lakes was ceremoniously emptied into the salt water.
In 1961
Jane JacobsJane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont was an American-born Canadian urbanist, writer and activist. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
, resident in the area and author of
The Death and Life of Great American Cities published that same year, headed a group that successfully stopped
Mayor Robert WagnerRobert Ferdinand Wagner, Jr., usually known as Robert F. Wagner, Jr. served three terms as the mayor of New York City, from 1954 through 1965....
's plan to demolish twelve blocks along West Street north of Christopher Street, including the north side of Christopher Street to Hudson Street, and an additional two blocks south of it, slated for "
urban renewalUrban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of reconstruction...
".
Christopher StreetThe Christopher Street PATH station, opened on February 25, 1908, is located on Christopher Street , on the west side of Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan.-Layout:...
is the first stop in Manhattan on the 33rd Street Line of the
Port Authority Trans-HudsonThe Port Authority Trans-Hudson is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York with New Jersey, and providing service to Jersey City, Hoboken, Harrison, and Newark. It is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...
rapid transit railroad. The PATH identifies Christopher Street station with a large single capital 'C'. The street also has a station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line at Christopher Street–Sheridan Square.
Notable residents of Christopher Street
- Theodor Adorno, (philosopher and cultural theorist) (once lived at 45 Christopher Street)
- Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
, actor-writer (lived at 95 Christopher)
- E. E. Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e. e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
, poet (lived at 11 Christopher in 1918).
- Vincent Canadé
Vincent Canadé was an American artist active during the 1920s and 1930s, often doing landscapes....
, artist (lived at 86 Christopher in the 1930s)
- Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. He has written in many genres, but principally science fiction.His published works include over 1000 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, and a wide range of criticism covering not only literature, but film, television, and print media...
, author (lived at 95 Christopher in the 1960s)
- Dick Francis
Dick Francis is an artist best known for his Galaxy Science Fiction illustrations during the 1950s and 1960s.In 1951-53, Francis was illustrating for Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures and Galaxy...
, science fiction illustrator (once lived at 105 Christopher)
- Ben M. Hall
Ben M. Hall was an author and theater historian. His book, The Best Remaining Seats, was a major survey of surviving and lost movie palaces, the grand cinemas constructed from the 1910s to the 1940s....
, author (The Best Remaining Seats) and founder of the Theatre Historical Society of America (once lived at 181 Christopher where he was murdered in 1970)
- Rosemary Harris
Rosemary Ann Harris is an English actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:Harris was born in Ashby, Suffolk, England, the daughter of Enid Maude Frances and Stafford Berkley Harris. Her grandmother was Romanian...
, actress (once lived at 77 Christopher)
- Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Kirkland was born in New York City and was the goddaughter of Shelley Winters. She was named after her mother, fashion editor Sally Kirkland, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazines. Her father, Frederic McMichael...
, actress (once lived at 84 Christopher)
- Hunter C Frick, Real Estate Baron (once lived at 89 Christopher)
- Katherine Prichard, Educator (once lived at 91 Christopher)
- Stephen Ackerman, Fashion Mogul (once lived at 89 Christopher)
- David "Fathead" Newman, jazz musician (lived at 95 Christopher through the 1980s)
- William Poole
William Poole , also known as Bill the Butcher, was a member of the New York City gang the Bowery Boys, a bare-knuckle boxer, and a leader of the Know Nothing political movement.-Attack at Florence's Hotel:...
, member of the New York City gang, the Bowery Boys
- Yoko Ono
, , is a Japanese-American artist and musician. She is known for her marriage to John Lennon and for her work as an avant-garde artist and musician.-Early life:...
(lived at 87 Christopher)
- Dawn Powell
Dawn Powell was an American writer of satirical novels and stories.-Biography:Powell was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, a village 45 miles north of Columbus and the county seat of Morrow County, Ohio. Powell regularly gave her birth year as 1897 but primary documents support the earlier date...
, author (lived at 95 Christopher in 1963-65).
- Amy Sedaris
Amy Sedaris is an American actress, author and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris...
, actress and comedian
- Linda Solomon
Linda Solomon is an American music critic and editor. Although she has written about various aspects of popular culture, her main focus has been on folk music, blues, R&B, jazz and country music...
, NY editor of New Musical ExpressThe New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it...
and Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper in New York City, United States featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City...
columnist (lived at 95 Christopher 1960-99)
- Ted White
Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor as well as a music critic...
, author-editor (once lived at 105 Christopher)
- Andrew Signer real estate agent, once lived at 115 Christopher
- Vicky Ruane,actress(lived at 39 Christopher Street)
- Phillip Seymour Hoffman, lives on Sheridan Square
Other businesses
Christopher Street is home to McNulty's Tea and Coffee Company, a purveyor dating back to 1895.
External links