Stuyvesant Square Historic District

Extending from East 15th to 17th Streets on both sides of Second Avenue, this neighborhood is a quaint residential area adjacent to Stuyvesant Square, the small city park for which the district is named. Once owned by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, the land for Stuyvesant Square remained a predominantly rural part of his family's holdings until Peter Gerard Stuyvesant deeded it to New York City in 1836. The square, laid out in that year, is a striking example of nineteenth century park design, created to relieve the gridiron pattern of city streets. Surrounded by a cast-iron fence and adorned with fountains, the park contains statues of Peter Stuyvesant by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Antonin Dvorak by Ivan Metrovi. Dvorak, a famous composer, resided in the neighborhood during the composition of his New World Symphony.

By the mid-nineteenth century, development of the area around Stuyvesant Square was underway, culminating with the construction of the Greek Revival Friends Meeting House and Seminary, built in 1860 on the west side of the square. Most of the residences in this fashionable neighborhood, primarily row houses, were built in the late nineteenth century and exemplify a variety of architectural styles. Architect Richard Morris Hunt designed 245 East 17th Street in 1883 for Sidney Webster in a modified French Renaissance style. Also notable are the elegant four-story brick house on East 16th Street, designed in the Anglo-Italianate style, and the Rainsford House at 208-210 East 16th Street with its elements of Tudor and Flemish architecture. ©2014