Hess triangle
{{Short description|Small tiled plot of land in New York City}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
File:Christopher Street 1 - SW stairs.jpg 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, {{convert|500|in2|cm2|adj=on}} 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.{{cite web | last=Hershkowitz | first=Toby | title=Hess Triangle: The weird, wild origin story of NYC's tiniest piece of private property in Greenwich Village | website=ABC7 Los Angeles | date=July 28, 2022 | url=https://abc7.com/hess-triangle-greenwich-village-nyc-history-walking-tours/12077625/ | access-date=January 19, 2025}} The plot is an isosceles triangle{{Efn|Sources disagree on the triangle's dimensions. WABC-TV cites the triangle as measuring {{convert|24.5|in}} along its base and {{convert|26.5|in}} along its sides. The Village Voice cites the triangle as measuring {{convert|25.5|in}} along its base and {{convert|27.5|in}} along its sides.}} covered by a mosaic plaque that reads "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes."
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. 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. By 1913, the Hess family had exhausted all legal options. 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. 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.
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|1938}}. Later, Yeshiva University came to own the property, including the Hess Triangle, and in October 1995 it was sold by Yeshiva to 70 Christopher Realty Corporation. Subsequent owners have left the plaque intact. The triangle and Village Cigars shop behind it were placed on sale in 2021.{{cite web | last1=Chang | first1=Sophia | last2=Offenhartz | first2=Jake | title=Village Cigars And The Hess Spite Triangle Are For Sale | website=Gothamist | date=February 3, 2021 | url=https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/christopher-street-triangle-home-village-cigars-be-sold | access-date=February 10, 2024}}{{cite web | last=Schulz | first=Dana | title=Historic Village Cigars building will be sold | website=6sqft | date=February 3, 2021 | url=https://www.6sqft.com/historic-village-cigars-building-and-hess-triangle-will-be-sold/ | access-date=February 10, 2024}}
Notes
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References
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{{cite news |first = Jesse |last = McKinley |newspaper = The New York Times |title = F.Y.I. |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/16/nyregion/fyi-134995.html |date = April 16, 1995 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |url-access=limited}}
{{cite news |first = Betsy |last = Kim |work = The Villager |publisher = NYC Community Media |title = Tiles Underfoot Recall Owner Who Put His Foot Down |url = http://thevillager.com/villager_432/tilesunderfoot.html |date = August 4–10, 2011 |volume = 81 |number = 10 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010725/http://thevillager.com/villager_432/tilesunderfoot.html |archive-date = March 5, 2016 |url-status = dead}}
{{cite web |work = Roadside America |title = Hess Triangle |url = http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/27150 |access-date = September 13, 2014}}
{{cite news |first = Jen |last = Carlson |work = Gothamist |url = http://gothamist.com/2010/11/01/teeny_tiny_private_piece_of_land.php |title = Hess's Old Teeny Tiny Message to City |date = November 1, 2010 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160614205814/http://gothamist.com/2010/11/01/teeny_tiny_private_piece_of_land.php |archivedate = June 14, 2016}}
{{cite news |first = Jen |last = Carlson |work = Gothamist |title = The Story Behind Hess Triangle, Once The Littlest Piece Of Land In NYC |url = http://gothamist.com/2015/04/09/hess_triangle_history.php |date = April 9, 2015 |access-date = April 9, 2015 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150409183637/http://gothamist.com/2015/04/09/hess_triangle_history.php |archivedate = April 9, 2015}}
{{cite web |first = Amy |last = Plitt |website = Curbed |title = In the West Village, a remnant of NYC's onetime smallest plot of land remains |url = https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/17/15983702/west-village-hess-triangle-history |date = July 17, 2017 |access-date = December 2, 2017}}
{{cite news |first = James |last = Barron |work = The New York Times |title = Grace Notes: How a 25-Inch Plot of Land in Greenwich Village Embodied 'a Resistance' |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/nyregion/hess-triangle-greenwich-village.html |date = February 10, 2019 |access-date = February 10, 2019 |url-access=limited}}
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{{West Village}}
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Category:1922 establishments in New York City
Category:20th century in New York City
Category:Individual signs in the United States