Stuyvesant Street

East Village

New York City

Art & Culture | History

An "Off the Grid" Street Steeped in History

Renwich Triangle on Stuyvesant Street East Village

About Stuyvesant Street

& why it made the Carpe City list

Walk down Stuyvesant Street, and you’ll step off the grid and into history.
Laid out in 1787 by Petrus Stuyvesant, the great-grandson of peg-leg Pete, as a private lane for his family, Stuyvesant Street is one of the oldest streets in New York.
The street initially divided two farms, Bowery #1 and Bowery #2. Peter Stuyvesant bought both farms from the Dutch West India Company in 1651.
Those farms were significant tracts of land. In fact, the Stuyvesants owned virtually all of what we now think of as the East Village.
Since Stuyvesant Street ran through all that land, it was originally much longer than the short stretch we see today.
The Street originally began at what is now 4th Avenue, and continued all the way to the Stuyvesant homestead at what’s now 1st Avenue and 16th Street!
When Petrus laid out Stuyvesant Street, he didn’t stop there. He created a full private grid for the Stuyvesant property where the streets were named after members of the family.
The streets running north and south were named for Petrus Stuyvesant’s four daughters: Judith, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Cornelia.
The streets that ran parallel to Stuyvesant Street, from north to south, were named for the men of the family: Tonbroeck, Winthrop, Gerard, Governor, Peter, Stuyvesant, Nicholas William, and Verplanck.
All of these streets were destroyed when Manhattan’s famous grid was instituted in 1811. The only one that remains today is Stuyvesant Street itself, which got a reprieve at the request of The Church of St. Marks in the Bowery.
Stuyvesant Street officially opened to the public in 1830.

The Old Stuyvesant Mansion – Courtesy of NYPL.org

Carpe City Trivia

Stuyvesant Street is home to the oldest house in the East Village!

While the whole street is steeped in history, #44 Stuyvesant Street, the Federal-style home built by Nicholas William Stuyvesant in 1795, is the oldest home in the East Village. #44 also stands out as the oldest building in Manhattan that is still used as a residence.

Nicholas William Stuyvesant Oldest House — Nicholas William Stuyvesant House - Oldest House in the East Village

Laid out with a compass, Stuyvesant Street is the only true East/West Street in Manhattan!

It might look like Stuyvesant Street is at odds with Manhattan’s grid, since it runs diagonally, but actually, it’s the grid itself that’s directionally challenged.

So, what’s up with the grid? It’s not actually oriented to true North, South, East or West. Manhattan’s grid is oriented 28.9° southeast/northwest.