As it passes through the center of SoHo, Spring Street is known for its artists' lofts, restaurants, and trendy and high-end boutiques, as well as its collection ofcast-iron buildings.[6][7][8]
Lispenard's Meadow in 1785, viewed from what is now the northeast corner of Spring Street and Broadway
Aaron Burr's estate, Richmond Hill, was located in the area in the 1790s. Burr dammedMinetta Creek to create an ornamental pool by his estate's main gate, which was located near where Spring Street,MacDougal Street andSixth Avenue come together.[9]
In 1803, what would become Spring Street was the only street through the area, which was still rural, hilly and wooded.[10] In May 1805, the street was ordered widened to 65 feet by theCommon Council of the City of New York.[11]
The St. Nicholas Hotel, no longer extant
The street was named Brannon Street until 1806,[12][13][14][15] because it ran through the garden of a man by that name at what is now Spring Street andHudson Street.[16][17][18] Its current name comes from afresh waterspring which ran through Lispenard's Meadow, at the place whereWest Broadway is now.[16][17][19] The stream continues to run underground, occasionally flooding basements.[16]
In 1834, anti-blackrace rioters, primarilyIrish immigrants, broke into the Spring Street Presbyterian Church, the home church ofabolitionistDr. Henry G. Ludlow. It was at the time located at 250 Spring Street betweenVarick Street and Sixth Avenue, where it had been established in 1811. The rioters caused extensive damage to the church's organ, pews and galleries. Two years after the riot, in 1836, aGothic Revival structure was completed, replacing the old church. It stood on the site until the 1960s. In the early 20th century, the church served an impoverished community in which, according to the pastor, "Much of the neighborhood was lost in a kind of sodden apathy to which drunken quarrels brought release."[20][21][22]
The corner of Spring Street andBroadway was the location of theSt. Nicholas Hotel, a six-story, marble-faced, 600-room luxury establishment that was designed by eitherJ. B. Snook orGriffith Thomas,[8] and was completed in 1853. It was equipped with the newest technological conveniences, such ascentral heating, hot running water, and atelegraph office in the lobby. The interior of the hotel featuredfrescoes on the ceiling,gas lightchandeliers and walnutwainscotting. The opulence of the hotel was such that one visitor described a stay there as "like an introduction to the palace of some Eastern prince."[23] The building took up the full block between Spring and Broome Streets; only two small segments survive.[8][24][25]
11 Spring Street, a former stable andcarriage house built in 1888, was once a noted magnet forgraffiti artists, who covered the exterior of the building with their artwork. When the building was purchased for conversion into condominiums, the developers, in collaboration with theWooster Collective, mounted a show inside the building, inviting well-known graffitists – many of whom had work on the outside – to cover the entire five floors of the building's interior. The show opened in December 2006 for a few days, before work on the conversion began and the artwork was covered over or destroyed.[30] Prior to its days as a canvas for graffiti, the stable had been the home ofIBM employee John Simpson for 30 years. Simpson had filled it withRube Goldberg-like mechanisms, and put burnt candles, surplus from the1964 New York World's Fair, in the windows, giving the building its nickname at the time, the "Candle Building".[31]
Lombardi's Pizza, 32 Spring Street, the first pizzeria in the United States.Zagats gave it a food rating of 25 in 2013.[32] Originally located at 531⁄2 Spring Street in 1897,Gennaro Lombardi converted his grocery store into a pizzeria in 1905, and had a loyal clientele, including Italian tenorEnrico Caruso. Gennaro later passed the restaurant to his son George. It was closed in 1984, and re-opened a few years later down the block, run by one of Gennaro's grandsons.[33]
Taïm, 45 Spring Street, Israeli vegetarian restaurant.Zagats gave it a food rating of 26 in 2013, and ranked it the # 1 Israeli restaurant in New York City, and the # 2 restaurant in NoLita.[34]
The East River Savings Bank Building (now known as "The Spring"), 60 Spring Street, was built in 1927 and was designed by notable architectCass Gilbert in theBeaux-Arts style. It was converted into a condominium apartment building in 2003.[31][35]
Balthazar, 80 Spring Street, Frenchbrasserie restaurant.Zagats gave it a food rating of 24 in 2013, and ranked it the No. 2 brasserie in New York City.[36]
TheDonald Judd House and Museum, 101 Spring Street, a five-story cast-iron building, designed in 1870, which was the former residence and studio of artistDonald Judd.[37][38][39] The building has been called an "outstanding example" of cast-iron architecture.[31]
175 Spring Street, a lumber company, originally built as an electrical substation for theSixth Avenue Elevated train line, run by the Metropolitan Railway Company. The building was constructed c. 1885, and features a graniteRomanesque Revival arch.[31][40]
James Brown House, 326 Spring Street, an historic building completed in 1817, and aNew York City landmark, listed as well on theNational Register of Historic Places.[46] It is one of the few existing examples ofFederal architecture in the neighborhood.[12] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission called it "a modest survivor of one of those charming, comfortable, small early nineteenth century houses, once abundant in [New York] City."[46] On the building's ground floor is The Ear Inn, one of the oldest taverns in New York City.[12]
The Urban Glass House, 330 Spring Street (between Washington and Greenwich Streets), a 12-story luxury condominium designed by noted architectPhilip Johnson in theModernist style; the interiors are byAnnabelle Selldorf, another noted architect.[47] The building was the last designed by Johnson before his death. The building utilizedair rights from theJames Brown House (see below), and in return the developers paid for significant repairs and improvements to that landmark.[48] The building was constructed from 2005–2006.[49][50]
The Salt Shed, 336 Spring Street, designed by Dattner Architects and WXY Architecture and erected in 2015.[51]
One bus route, theM21, serves Spring Street in the eastbound direction from Washington Street to 6th Avenue, beginning service at Greenwich Street. Westbound buses run on West Houston Street.
Leah McSweeney (born 1982), founder and CEO of the female "Married to the MOB" (MTTM) clothing line.[56]
Nicholas Ray, film director, lived and worked in a loft at 167 Spring Street, from November 1976 to his death in June 1979. It was a location forLightning Over Water (1980), his collaboration withWim Wenders.[57]
Andrew Wyatt, musician and producer, lives on Spring Street.[58]
