Hess triangle

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Short description: Small tiled plot of land in New York City

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View of the triangle, which is located on a sidewalk at a street corner. The triangle is outside the Village Cigars shop and the Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station of the New York City Subway. The triangle can be seen on the sidewalk toward the left side of the photo.
Location of the triangle in 2015, outside the Village Cigars shop and the Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station of the New York City Subway. The triangle can be seen on the sidewalk toward the left side of the photo.

The Hess triangle is a triangular, 500-square-inch (3,200 cm2) plot of private land in the middle of a public sidewalk at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.[1] The plot is an isosceles triangle[lower-alpha 1] covered by a mosaic plaque that reads:

PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES[2]

The Hess Triangle is the result of a dispute between the city government and the estate of David Hess, a landlord from Philadelphia who owned the Voorhis, a five-story apartment building.[3] In the early 1910s, the city claimed eminent domain to acquire and demolish 253 buildings in the area in order to widen Seventh Avenue and expand the IRT subway.[2][4][5] By 1913, the Hess family had exhausted all legal options.[5] However, according to Ross Duff Wyttock writing in the Hartford Courant in 1928, Hess's heirs identified that a small corner of Plot 55 had been excluded during the city’s seizure of the Voorhis property and subsequently filed a notice of possession.[2] The city asked the family to donate the diminutive property to the public, but they chose to hold out and installed the present, defiant mosaic on July 27, 1922.[6][7]

In 1938, the property, reported to be the smallest plot in New York City, was sold to the adjacent Village Cigars store (United Cigars at that time) for US$100 (equivalent to $2,234 in 2024).[8] Later, Yeshiva University came to own the property, including the Hess Triangle, and in October 1995,[9] it was sold by Yeshiva to 70 Christopher Realty Corporation.[10] Subsequent owners have left the plaque intact.[5][11] The triangle and Village Cigars shop behind it were placed on sale in 2021.[12][13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Sources disagree on the triangle's dimensions. WABC-TV cites the triangle as measuring 24.5 inches (620 mm) along its base and 26.5 inches (670 mm) along its sides.[1] The Village Voice cites the triangle as measuring 25.5 inches (650 mm) along its base and 27.5 inches (700 mm) along its sides.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hershkowitz, Toby (July 28, 2022). "Hess Triangle: The weird, wild origin story of NYC's tiniest piece of private property in Greenwich Village". https://abc7.com/hess-triangle-greenwich-village-nyc-history-walking-tours/12077625/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kim, Betsy (August 4–10, 2011). "Tiles Underfoot Recall Owner Who Put His Foot Down". The Villager (NYC Community Media) 81 (10). http://thevillager.com/villager_432/tilesunderfoot.html. 
  3. ↑ McKinley, Jesse (April 16, 1995). "F.Y.I.". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/16/nyregion/fyi-134995.html. 
  4. ↑ Carlson, Jen (April 9, 2015). "The Story Behind Hess Triangle, Once The Littlest Piece Of Land In NYC". Gothamist. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150409183637/http://gothamist.com/2015/04/09/hess_triangle_history.php. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Guiberteau, Olivier (March 15, 2019). "New York's cheeky symbol of defiance" (in en). BBC. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190314-new-yorks-cheeky-symbol-of-defiance. 
  6. ↑ "Hess Triangle". Roadside America. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/27150. 
  7. ↑ Carlson, Jen (November 1, 2010). "Hess's Old Teeny Tiny Message to City". Gothamist. Archived from the original on June 14, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160614205814/http://gothamist.com/2010/11/01/teeny_tiny_private_piece_of_land.php. 
  8. ↑ Barron, James (February 10, 2019). "Grace Notes: How a 25-Inch Plot of Land in Greenwich Village Embodied 'a Resistance'". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/nyregion/hess-triangle-greenwich-village.html. 
  9. ↑ "Deed, Sec. 2, Block No. 591, Lot 54". New York City Department of Finance, Office of the City Register. October 18, 1995. p. Reel 2256, Page 0368. https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=FT_1260004891226. 
  10. ↑ Snetiker, Lauren (September 25, 2015). "Hess Triangle: What was Once the Smallest Piece of Property in New York City". Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. https://gvshp.org/blog/2015/09/25/hess-triangle-what-was-once-the-smallest-piece-of-property-in-new-york-city/. 
  11. ↑ Plitt, Amy (July 17, 2017). "In the West Village, a remnant of NYC's onetime smallest plot of land remains". https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/17/15983702/west-village-hess-triangle-history. 
  12. ↑ Chang, Sophia; Offenhartz, Jake (February 3, 2021). "Village Cigars And The Hess Spite Triangle Are For Sale". https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/christopher-street-triangle-home-village-cigars-be-sold. 
  13. ↑ Schulz, Dana (February 3, 2021). "Historic Village Cigars building will be sold". https://www.6sqft.com/historic-village-cigars-building-and-hess-triangle-will-be-sold/. 

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