A STAGE for one of New York's longest-running and most eclectic shows: that's what Washington Square Park provides, for a constantly shifting audience of old men with ponytails, teenage girls with jagged bangs, children kicking soccer balls, and suited workers just kicking back, among others.
On any afternoon, the park's matchbox-shaped patch of green can easily feature bluegrass banjo-pickers, wisecracking jugglers and accordion-squeezers, all in a freewheeling circus. Even the speed-chess fanatics at the southwestern corner can seem part of the act.
In the Greenwich Village area framed by West Eighth Street and Houston Street, the Avenue of the Americas and Broadway, preserving that show has become something of a cause célèbre.
The city is planning to redesign the park, and while a renovation would fix cracked paths and broken benches, residents fear a number of other effects it might have. These include encroachment on the events space and removal of trees. Also, the plans call for a perimeter fence, which means access to the park could, at least in theory, be limited or denied.
A group of residents cite these as some of the reasons they have sued to stop the redesign. Luther S. Harris, one litigant, says the park could be robbed of quirky charm if the alignment of its fountain with the Washington Arch and Fifth Avenue went ahead as proposed. Symbolically, in his view, the change would homogenize the park, putting it out of sync with the neighborhood, a low-scale oasis of crackling street energy and live-and-let-live spirit, where building styles can be as diverse as the people who are drawn to them.
"It was such a revelation to us to discover this idiosyncratic and wonderful neighborhood," he said of his first trip downtown, with his wife, Joanne, in the early 1970's.
At the time they were renting in Midtown, but they quickly packed their bags and moved into a 1,000-square-foot co-op at One Fifth Avenue, a former hotel built in 1929, with two bedrooms, for which they paid $32,000. Today, he said, it could easily command $1 million. Since then, the couple has moved upstairs to the penthouse, which is slightly larger and has a terrace that provides full-circle views from the Woolworth to the Empire State Buildings.
"There's really no other neighborhood like this in the city," he said.
Yet for every resident who worries about the changes, there seems to be another who, like Thomas Hess, welcomes them. From Mr. Hess's point of view the park and its environs, once thick with marijuana dealers, are now safer and cleaner. Mr. Hess, who works at a hedge fund, says his only complaint is that it is sometimes hard to lure his friends, most of whom live uptown.
He lives in a 900-square-foot co-op, with one bedroom, one bath, 12-foot ceilings and exposed brick walls, for which his sister paid $225,000 in 1996. "You've got this cross section of punks, hippies, college students, families, and people like me," he said, "more preppy and conservative."
What You'll Find
Starting in the 1820's, the city began to put up town houses here on farmland; since then, each successive New York architectural trend seems to have left its mark.
Along Washington Square North, and certain blocks on Sullivan and Waverly Streets, are well-preserved one-family Greek Revival and Federal row houses, part of the city's second-largest landmark district. Horse barns from that era, converted into two-story homes, can also be found in the Belgian-block-paved alley known as Washington Mews.
In the mid-19th century, when this area was considered Midtown (the mayor's official residence faced the park), hotels began to rise. Soon afterward came luxury apartment buildings, in a trend that continued until the 1920's. Many of them are elegant, like 29 Washington Square West, a co-op building that contains some of the few old-fashioned Park-Avenue-style "Classic Six" units to be found downtown, brokers said.
After World War II, developers made a bet that downtown residents craved the same amenities as those who lived near Central Park. They put up enormous buildings like Two Fifth Avenue, which contains about 350 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, most with views, as well as a library and fitness center.
Despite preservation laws that severely limit what can be done to a historic building, luxury condos have recently come to the neighborhood.
For example, 88 Washington Place, a six-story Art Deco-themed luxury building going up on the corner of the Avenue of the Americas, will eventually house 14 condos offering 10-foot ceilings, hardwood floors and personal safes, as well as a fitness center. All 14 condos have already sold, according to Daniel Cordeiro of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing, which handled the sales.
And a Romanesque Revival former Methodist church, built in 1850 at 135 West Fourth Street, will soon become the Novare, an eight-unit luxury condo complete with original stained glass window. Since Corcoran opened the sales office in March, two of the eight units have sold, said Brian Babst, a senior associate.
There are plenty of rentals. According to Robert Gross, a senior vice president with Prudential Douglas Elliman who has sold apartments downtown for 19 years, about 75 percent of available dwellings here are for rent. That is about the same proportion as in the rest of the city.
Many of the renters are from New York University. Its newer buildings have swallowed up entire blocks to accommodate its student body, which grew to 40,000 in 2005, from 32,666 in 1985, said John Beckman, a university spokesman.
What You'll Pay
In the neighborhood's higher-end buildings, prices have climbed faster than similar-sized units on the Upper East and Upper West Sides, brokers say. The closing price for a one-bedroom co-op at Two Fifth Avenue, for example, can be more than $1 million, said Bennett Goldworth, a Corcoran senior vice president who has lived at Two Fifth for five years. Five years ago, he said, that price would have been about $500,000. But a similar uptown apartment, which would also have sold for $500,000 five years ago, might have risen to only $850,000 over than period, he said.
Views have a lot to do with these prices, brokers say, noting that one-bedroom co-ops in older buildings not overlooking the park cost around $800,000. Newness and amenities also influence pricing. The luxury condos creeping into the area are commanding much higher prices than similar-sized apartments in older buildings.
At 181 Sullivan Street, site of the theater where "The Fantasticks" played for more than three decades, a $10 million project developed by Gershon & Company of Manhattan has created five condos, covering 1,530 to 1,970 square feet and priced at $1.995 million to $3.15 million. Buyers have so far closed on two, said Clarisa Gall of the Triumph Property Group, which is handling sales.
Renters can expect to pay about $1,900 a month for studios, $2,800 for one-bedrooms, and more than $5,000 for two-bedrooms. Lower prices are found in 19th-century tenements south of the park; higher prices, many for co-op sublets, are typically found north of it, Mr. Gross said.
What to Do
New York University students, as well as tourists, gravitate toward the stretches of Bleecker and Macdougal Streets that offer inexpensive food and drinks, and live music.
It is hard to find traces of the 1960's era, when the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez strummed guitars here, although the neighborhood still has a handful of respected jazz clubs, like the Blue Note and the Bitter End.
As unlikely as it may have seemed back then, the area now has its share of culinary destinations, among them Babbo, Blue Hill and Lupa.
Once-bustling retail strips like West 8th Street are now lined with empty storefronts, but neighborhoods like SoHo, the East Village and Union Square are so close by that decent shopping isn't hard to find.
The area is also home to a passionate chess-playing community, both in the park and at Village Chess, on Thompson Street, which draws as many as 50 players a day. (It costs $1.50 an hour to play, and there are 14 tables.) "The Village is the chess capital of the city, and probably the country," said George Frohlinde, who opened the store in 1972 and remains a fixture there even though he has since sold it to his nephew.
The Schools
There are no schools within the neighborhood's boundaries, but some are close. Public School 41, at 116 West 11th Street, and P.S. 003, at 490 Hudson Street, teach prekindergarten through Grade 5.
For students in Grades 6, 7 and 8, there is P.S. 104, which does not require an application. Among those that do are P.S. 89, 255 and 260.
Many students attend private schools, among them the Little Red Schoolhouse, which offers prekindergarten through 12th grade, on two campuses. The younger children go to the schoolhouse at 196 Bleecker Street; starting in ninth grade, students attend Elisabeth Irwin High School, at 40 Charlton Street.
There are four public high schools that give first preference to local students. The largest is Washington Irving, at 40 Irving Place. Its SAT averages for 2004 were 417 on the math and 400 on the verbal. State averages for 2005 were 511 math and 497 verbal.
Another is the Legacy School for Integrated Studies, at 33 West 33rd Street. Its class of 2004 scored 371 on the math SAT and 356 on the verbal.
Manhattan Village Academy, at 43 West 27th Street, had 2004 SAT averages of 400 on the math and 386 on the verbal. Harvey Milk High School, whose student population is gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, did not have test scores available.
The History
Long before Washington Square provided inspiration for the musical "Hair," early settlers gathered water from the Minetta Creek, which today runs under the park in culverts from northeast to southwest.
After a heavy rain, creek water can still resurface in the bottom of the elevator shaft at One Fifth Avenue, as well as in other buildings around the park, Mr. Harris said.
What We Like
Although it can get crowded, Washington Square Park is ideal just after a summer rain, when you can stroll its paths alone under leaves made iridescent. Adjacent blocks contain a nice balance of lively and quiet streets, often just a block apart. And almost every subway line snakes through the neighborhood, or within easy walking distance.
Going Forward
A concern voiced by some is that New York University, which kicked in $1 million toward the park renovation last year, is seeking to use the square for a greater proportion of campus activities. Alicia Hurley, a spokeswoman, said the university opposed putting a dog run in front of its library, which faces the park, but otherwise was "agnostic" on the design, and had never had proprietary interest in the space.
The Parks Department won't comment on design specifics while the matter is before a judge, said Warner Johnston, a spokesman.
