Whitehall Street (Manhattan)
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Whitehall Street is a street in the South Ferry/
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, near the southern tip of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
Island. The street begins at
Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
to the north, where it is a continuation of the southern end of
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
. Whitehall Street stretches four blocks to the southern end of FDR Drive, adjacent to the
Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...
's
Whitehall Terminal The Whitehall Terminal is a ferry terminal in the South Ferry section of Lower Manhattan, New York City, at the corner of South Street and Whitehall Street. It is used by the Staten Island Ferry, which connects the island boroughs of Manhatta ...
, on landfill beyond the site of Peter Stuyvesant's 17th-century house. Whitehall Street is one of New York's oldest streets, having been a 17th-century road in the Dutch colony of
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
. It was known as Marckvelt by 1658 and as Whitehall Street by 1731. Over the years, the street has been widened and modified to accommodate different traffic patterns. Whitehall Street contains several structures, including the
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by Cas ...
and 2 Broadway at its northern end. The street has entrances to the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's
Whitehall Street–South Ferry The South Ferry/Whitehall Street station is a New York City Subway metro station, station complex in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan, under Battery Park. The complex is shared by the IRT Broadway ...
station at both its ends, as well as the Staten Island Ferry terminal and
Battery Maritime Building The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground ...
at its southern end.


Description

The northern end of Whitehall Street is commonly cited as being at Stone Street, just south of
Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
, where southbound traffic from
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
continues onto Whitehall Street. According to street signs, Whitehall Street begins half a block north at the southern edge of Bowling Green. Near that location, on the site of modern-day 2 Broadway, Whitehall Street and Broadway formerly intersected with
Marketfield Street Marketfield Street is a short one-way, one-block-long alleyway in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. The street begins as a southern branch of Beaver Street, then veers east and north, ending at Broad Street. Alternative past ...
. That intersection was eliminated in 1880 for the construction of the
New York Produce Exchange The New York Produce Exchange was a commodities exchange headquartered in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It served a network of produce and commodities dealers across the United States. Founded in 1861 as the New Y ...
. Whitehall Street carries southbound traffic two blocks from Stone Street, intersecting with Bridge Street and Pearl Street. These two blocks of Whitehall Street are preserved as part of the
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
street grid, a
New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
. South of Pearl Street, Whitehall Street continues for another two blocks, carrying northbound traffic. The street intersects with State Street/Water Street before terminating at the FDR Drive. The southernmost block, adjacent to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, provides access from FDR Drive to the Battery.


History

Whitehall Street is one of New York's oldest streets, having been built by , shortly after the Dutch West India Company established
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
. During the Dutch colonial era, part of the street was known as ''Markvelt'' or ''Marckvelt,'' though the name seems to have only applied to the northern portion. Another part of Whitehall Street was also known as ''Beurs Straat,'' while the block from Pearl to State Streets was known as ''Waterside'' or ''Lang Straat''. In the 1640s, numerous settlers were given land grants on Whitehall Street. At the intersection of what is now Pearl and Whitehall Streets, Dutch colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant built the Governor's House . The British took over New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, and thereafter the building became known as the "Whitehall", for England's seat of government,
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. In 1676, the street was described as containing "twelve houses of the better class". Under the leadership of British colonial governor
Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...
, a large semicircular wood-and-stone fortification was built at the southern end of the modern Whitehall Street. It was commonly known as the Whitehall Battery. There was also a drinking well, "De Riemer's Well" in the center of Whitehall Street near Bridge Street. The section between State and Pearl Streets was known as Leisler Street by 1720. The entire street had commonly become known as "Whitehall Street" by 1731. By 1790, Whitehall Street had assumed its current layout when
Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...
was built at the northern end of the street. The section of Whitehall Street from Bowling Green to State Street was widened and straightened in 1859. Modifications to Whitehall Street's traffic patterns were made in the 21st century. In 2010, the
New York City Department of Transportation The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Depart ...
announced plans to improve the intersection of Water and Whitehall Streets by creating a painted pedestrian plaza on an underused slip road in the northeast corner of the intersection. The block of Whitehall Street from Pearl to Water Streets would also be converted from a two-way street to a northbound-only street, with a painted sidewalk on the eastern side of the block. In May 2012, following the successful implementation of the pedestrian plaza between Pearl and Water Streets, additional painted pedestrian spaces were proposed on both sides of Whitehall Street from Pearl Street to Bowling Green. These improvements were completed by September 2012.


Architecture

At the northeast corner of Whitehall and Stone Streets is 2 Broadway, a 32-story tower designed by
Emery Roth & Sons Emery Roth ( hu, Róth Imre, July 17, 1871 – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-A ...
and built in 1958–1959. The building originally housed financial firms, but by the early 2000s,
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
had renovated the building, turning it into a new headquarters for the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
. At the southeastern corner of the same intersection, the 23-story structure at 1 Whitehall Street was completed in 1962, also to designs by Emery Roth & Sons. On the western sidewalk between Bowling Green and Bridge Street is the
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by Cas ...
. Completed in 1907 to designs by
Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and ...
, it originally served as the Custom House for the Port of New York. Since 1994, it has housed the
George Gustav Heye Center The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Sm ...
of the
National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...
. The building is a
New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
and a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. The Army Building at 39 Whitehall Street, between Pearl and Water Streets, was used as offices, a military recruiting center, and an Armed Forces Examination and Entrance Station (i.e. induction center) from 1884 until the end of the Vietnam War. Nearly three million Americans were inducted at the Army Building before it was closed after two bombings by war resisters (in 1968 and 1969). The damage was superficial and, in 1986, it was repurposed as a glass-skinned condominium with retail space, ten additional floors, and the alternate address of 3 New York Plaza. Just south of 3 New York Plaza is 1 New York Plaza, which occupies the eastern sidewalk of Whitehall Street between Water Street and the FDR Drive. The 50-story building was built in 1969 to designs by
William Lescaze William Edmond Lescaze, FAIA (March 27, 1896 – February 9, 1969), was a Swiss-born American architect, city planner and industrial designer. He is ranked among the pioneers of modernism in American architecture. Biography William Lescaze w ...
& Assocs. and
Kahn & Jacobs Ely Jacques Kahn (June 1, 1884September 5, 1972) was an American commercial architect who designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century. In addition to buildings intended for commercial use, Kahn's designs ranged throu ...
. The New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion, in
Peter Minuit Plaza Peter Minuit Plaza is an urban square serving the intermodal transportation hub at South Ferry, and lies at the intersection of State Street and Whitehall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The plaza is a heavy pedestrian ...
on Whitehall Street at the intersection of State Street, was a gift from the Netherlands to New York City, honoring the 400th anniversary of
Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...
's arrival in New York Harbor in 1609. The pavilion, in the shape of a flower, was designed by the Dutch architects
Ben van Berkel Ben van Berkel (born 1957) is a Dutch architect; founder and principal architect of the architectural practice UNStudio. With his studio he designed, among others, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, the Moebius House in the Netherlands, the Merced ...
and
Caroline Bos Caroline Bos (born 1959, Rotterdam) is a Dutch architect. She is a co-founder of UNStudio, a large award-winning architecture firm in Amsterdam. Bos writes, lectures and teaches architecture at various schools. Her architectural drawings and mod ...
, and features radiating bars of
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
s; it is both a café and a visitors center. The stone plaza is a landscaped platform ("''plein''" in Dutch) with benches of modern design, walkways with engraved passages from
Russell Shorto Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist who is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, '' The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research for the book rel ...
's ''The Island at the Center of the World'', about the founding of Manhattan, and a map of the Castello Plan of New Amsterdam from 1660, carved in stone.


Former buildings

2 Broadway was the site of the
New York Produce Exchange The New York Produce Exchange was a commodities exchange headquartered in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It served a network of produce and commodities dealers across the United States. Founded in 1861 as the New Y ...
. The exchange's structure, designed by George B. Post and completed in 1884, was the first building in the world to combine wrought iron and masonry in its structural construction. It was demolished in 1957 to make way for 2 Broadway. The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House was the site of
Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently th ...
, constructed by the Dutch West India Company to defend their operations in the
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
. The fort became the nucleus of the New Amsterdam settlement, and in turn, of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The
Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...
was subsequently built on the site of Fort Amsterdam and, after 1799, housed a previous location of the Custom House for the Port of New York. The old Government House was demolished in 1815, and the site was later developed with the houses of several wealthy New Yorkers. Near the foot of the street is the site of the Governor's house built by Peter Stuyvesant, now long demolished. On the Castello Plan of 1660, Whitehall, with its white roof, stands on a jutting piece of land at Manhattan's tip, facing along the waterfront strand that extends along the
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...
. The only extensive pleasure gardens in seventeenth-century New Amsterdam are seen to extend behind it, laid out in a patterned
parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
of four squares. Other grounds in the center of blocks behind houses are
commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...
and
market gardens A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to som ...
.


Transportation

There is an active passenger
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
terminal at the southern tip of Whitehall Street: the
Whitehall Terminal The Whitehall Terminal is a ferry terminal in the South Ferry section of Lower Manhattan, New York City, at the corner of South Street and Whitehall Street. It is used by the Staten Island Ferry, which connects the island boroughs of Manhatta ...
, which serves the
Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...
. However, its facilities in use have shifted over the decade, as have the destinations served. The original Whitehall Terminal served
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...
,
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
, and
Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
's elevated train lines at South Ferry station. Furthermore, the terminal once served vehicular traffic. The subways have replaced the els, and cars now use fixed crossings such as the
Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and commonly referred to as the Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a tolled tunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook in Brooklyn with the Battery in Manhatta ...
. The structure was renovated in the 1950s and reopened in 1956. It was destroyed by fire in 1991. It was renovated from 2000 to 2005. The
Battery Maritime Building The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground ...
, housing the ferry to Governors Island, is just east of the Whitehall Terminal. It is open to the public from April through October. Completed in 1909, the terminal was renovated in 2001–2005. The building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The
Whitehall Street–South Ferry The South Ferry/Whitehall Street station is a New York City Subway metro station, station complex in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan, under Battery Park. The complex is shared by the IRT Broadway ...
station () of the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
is located on Whitehall Street. Entrances are located at the northern and southern ends of the street (at Stone Street and the Staten Island Ferry terminal, respectively). The
Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
subway station (), just north of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, is also on Whitehall Street.


In popular culture

The former military induction center at 39 Whitehall Street was featured in
Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...
's "
Alice's Restaurant "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", commonly known as "Alice's Restaurant", is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album '' Alice's Restaurant''. The song is a deadpan prote ...
".


References

Notes Bibliography * * * * * * {{coord, 40, 42, 10.2, N, 74, 00, 46.9, W, region:US, display=title Streets in Manhattan Bowling Green (New York City) Financial District, Manhattan