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 of
cast-iron buildings.[6][7][8]
History
Aaron Burr's estate, Richmond Hill, was located in the area in the 1790s. Burr dammed
Minetta Creek to create an ornamental pool by his estate's main gate, which was located near where Spring Street,
MacDougal Street and
Sixth 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 the
Common Council of the City of New York.[11]
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 and
Hudson Street.[16][17][18] Its current name comes from a
fresh waterspring which ran through Lispenard's Meadow, at the place where
West Broadway is now.[16][17][19] The stream continues to run underground, occasionally flooding basements.[16]
In 1834, anti-black
race rioters, primarily
Irish immigrants, broke into the Spring Street Presbyterian Church, the home church of
abolitionistDr. Henry G. Ludlow. It was at the time located at 250 Spring Street between
Varick 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, a
Gothic 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 and
Broadway was the location of the
St. Nicholas Hotel, a six-story, marble-faced, 600-room luxury establishment that was designed by either
J. B. Snook or
Griffith Thomas,[8] and was completed in 1853. It was equipped with the newest technological conveniences, such as
central heating, hot running water, and a
telegraph office in the lobby. The interior of the hotel featured
frescoes on the ceiling,
gas lightchandeliers and walnut
wainscotting. 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 and
carriage house built in 1888, was once a noted magnet for
graffiti 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 the
Wooster 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 of
IBM employee John Simpson for 30 years. Simpson had filled it with
Rube Goldberg-like mechanisms, and put burnt candles, surplus from the
1964 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 tenor
Enrico 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 architect
Cass Gilbert in the
Beaux-Arts style. It was converted into a condominium apartment building in 2003.[31][35]
Balthazar, 80 Spring Street, French
brasserie restaurant. Zagats gave it a food rating of 24 in 2013, and ranked it the # 2 brasserie in New York City.[36]
The Donald Judd House and Museum, 101 Spring Street, a five-story cast-iron building, designed in 1870, which was the former residence and studio of artist
Donald 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 the
Sixth Avenue Elevated train line, run by the Metropolitan Railway Company. The building was constructed c. 1885, and features a granite
Romanesque Revival arch.[31][40]
James Brown House, 326 Spring Street, an historic building completed in 1817, and a
New York City landmark, listed as well on the
National Register of Historic Places.[46] It is one of the few existing examples of
Federal 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 architect
Philip Johnson in the
Modernist style; the interiors are by
Annabelle Selldorf, another noted architect.[47] The building was the last designed by Johnson before his death. The building utilized
air rights from the
James 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]
Leah McSweeney (born 1982), founder and CEO of the female "Married to the MOB" (MTTM) clothing line.[55]
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 for Lightning Over Water (1980), his collaboration with
Wim Wenders.[56]
Andrew Wyatt, musician and producer, lives on Spring Street.[57]
In popular culture
There were two songs written about Spring Street:
"Spring Street" (2000), song by pop folk singer-songwriter
Dar Williams[58]