On your right, this is the West Chelsea Historic District... and it packs an incredible amount of New York muscle into a few blocks. In July of two thousand eight, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission named this area the city’s ninety-second historic district, protecting a stretch between West Twenty-fifth and West Twenty-eighth Streets, from Tenth Avenue to the West Side Highway. Picture the neighborhood in its manufacturing heyday: freight rolling in, elevators clanking, warehouse doors sliding open. About thirty buildings here date from between eighteen eighty-five and nineteen thirty, and they still tell that story in brick, steel, and huge industrial windows. Heavyweights like the Starrett-Lehigh Building, the Otis Elevator Building, and the Terminal Stores building gave this district its bold, practical character. And here is the Chelsea magic: some of those same workhorse buildings now hold galleries in the Chelsea Arts District, where factory grit meets contemporary art.
This district turns old industry into living culture.
Take a moment to look it over, and when you’re ready, we can continue to the next stop.
