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| Former name(s) | Brannon Street |
|---|---|
| Location | Hudson Square, SoHo, and Nolita (Manhattan, New York City) |
| Postal code | 10012, 10013[1] |
| Coordinates | 40°43′28″N 74°00′07″W / 40.724527°N 74.001982°W |
| West end | West Street |
| East end | Bowery |
| North | Prince Street |
| South | Kenmare Street |
Spring Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, which runs west–east through the neighborhoods of Hudson Square, SoHo, and Nolita. It runs parallel to and between Dominick, Broome, and Kenmare Streets (to the south), and Vandam and Prince Streets (to the north).[2][3] Address numbers ascend as Spring Street travels westward from the Bowery to West Street along the Hudson River.[4][5]
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]
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 water spring 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 abolitionist Dr. 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 light chandeliers 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]
There were two songs written about Spring Street:
