The Hess Triangle

At the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street, a small triangle of tiles is set into the sidewalk. It reads: "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes." In the 1910s the city used eminent domain to clear buildings in the path of the Seventh Avenue extension and the new IRT subway. One of them was the Voorhis, an apartment house owned by the heirs of David Hess. When the condemnation was done, a survey had left the family one sliver of their lot, about 500 square inches. The city asked them to donate it. They declined, and on July 27, 1922, they had the mosaic laid instead. In 1938 the family sold the triangle to the cigar shop that stood behind it, and every owner since has left the tiles in place. Village Cigars closed in 2024 after more than a century on the corner, but the mosaic is still underfoot.