West Village
Houston to 14th Streets; 6th Avenue (or 7th Avenue) to the Hudson River
The West Village is a western neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City ‘s broader Greenwich Village. The West Village’s traditional boundaries are the Hudson River on the west, West 14th Street on the north, Greenwich Avenue on the east, and Christopher Street on the south. Some common meanings spread south to Houston Street, others using Seventh Avenue or Avenue of the Americas as their eastern frontier.
The West Village runs between Gansevoort Street and Leroy Avenue, from Hudson River across Hudson Avenue. Next neighbourhoods include Chelsea to the north, Hudson Square to the south and Greenwich Village Washington Square to the east.
The area is characterized by streets “off the grid,” which are positioned in an angle to Manhattan’s other streets. These roads were built in a grid plan from the eighteenth century, roughly parallel to the Hudson or perpendicular, long before the 1811 plan for the commissars which defined the main grid plan on suburban areas. In the 19th century, even streets with numbers which make them part of the grid may at best be uncommon. West 4th Avenue, formerly Asylum Road, crosses West 10th, 11th and 12th Streets, and begins at West 13th Street intersection.
History
From West Street to Hudson Street, West 14th street to West Houston Street, in the Far West Village residential growth started early in the 1980s and this led to the neighborhood gaining its own name. The growth of this village was historically a concern of local residents and conservation organizations and has struggled to preserve the architectural and historical integrity of the community. The Historic District of the New York City Preservation Commission is located on the 14th street on the north, more than 50 blocks south.
In the early and mid-20th centuries, the West Village was traditionally recognized as the key landmark on the map of bohemian culture. The neighborhood was known for its colorful, cultural and alternative culture. The Village has partly become a forum for new movements and ideas, whether political, artistic or cultural, because of the egalitarian views of many of its inhabitants. It was founded in the 19th and 20th centuries, in which small presses, art galleries and experimental theater flourished, as an enclave of avant-garde and alternative culture.
The cobblestone boundary of the neighborhood is not south of Fourth or St. Luke’s Street and no further east of Washington Square East or University Place. Renewal in this area is heavily limited and the main façade and design of constructions must be preserved even during renovations. The city’s oldest district, four decades old, was created by the New York City Preservation Committee in 1969. This area became the largest district. Preservationists, however, called for the district to be a historic district for the entire area; however the blocks along the Hudson River are omitted for most of the Western Villagers. Community residents and community organizations were deeply concerned about the growth of the village and campaigned for the preservation of the neighborhood’s architectural and cultural heritage. The historical district established by New York City Landmarks Preservation Box, borders on 14th Street to the north, over 50 blocks. Far farther south than the 4th Street or St. Luke Place and no further east than Washington Square East or University Place, are the district’s overgrown boundaries. Renewal in this area has been severely restricted, with the main front and esthetics of buildings preserved by developers during renovation.
