Among the many industries which this area played a significant role in shaping and transforming was photography. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This four-story Greek Revival row house was built in 1847-48 by Henry Brevoort, though Mrs. Renwick became the owner in 1848. Along with 100 Fourth Avenue it is the sole survivor of a row of at least eight such houses which once lined this section of Fourth Avenue. It was the home of a famed Book Row seller, as well as a renowned photographer who documented African American life and subjects, in addition to leftist/labor themes. Go back and click on the tours the building is featured in for additional information and history.

In spite of massive waves of commercial construction, tenement building, and later hotel and apartment building construction which swept through this neighborhood, the area retains dozens of rowhouses from its early stages of development, dating from the early 1830s to the early 1850s. They range from modest to grand, most in the Greek Revival or Italianate style. Reflecting the vast forces of change which swept through the area, none remained single family houses, taking on new lives housing commerce, unions, theaters, art galleries, and multiple tenants. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This area was a mecca for leftist and labor organizing, with many of the most significant figures and organizations of the 19th and 20th centuries located here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

An incredible array of sites in the area are connected to the great artists and art movements of the last century and a half. In the mid-20th century, this area was ground zero for the New York School of artists, who shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This area was home to several sites connected to significant developments in African American history, including civil rights leaders and organizations, musicians, and writers. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

The "New York School," a groundbreaking group of writers and artists who collaborated across disciplines, was rooted in the neighborhood south of Union Square in the mid-20th century. This loosely defined but transformative collective is credited with shifting the center of the art world from Paris to New York.

Since at least the 1890s and through the 20th century, this area was the center of the bookselling industry in New York, centered along Fourth Avenue as well as Broadway and University Place, and probably had the highest concentration of booksellers in the world. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.