{{Short description|Small tiled plot of land in New York City}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use American English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox urban feature | name = Hess triangle | place_type = Private land | other_names = | nickname = | former_names = | image_place = Hesstriangle.jpg | imagesize = | image_alt = Detail of the triangle, which contains the text "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes." | image_caption = Mosaic detail of the Hess triangle | image_oth = | features = Plaque | designer = | builder = | construction = | complete = | open = | close = | destroyed = | demolished = | cost = | steps = | height = | length = | dimensions = {{convert|25|x|27|in|cm}}{{Efn|name=dimension}} | amenities = | area = {{convert|500|in2|cm2}} | surface = | architectural_style = | dedicated_to = the Hess estate | owner = | manager = | location = | address1 = 110 7th Ave S | address2 = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_label = | coordinates = {{coord|40.733513|-74.003067|display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map_caption = | coor_pinpoint = | coor_type = | coordinates_footnotes = | mapframe = yes | website = | embedded = | footnotes = }} [[File:Christopher Street 1 - SW stairs.jpg|thumb|alt=View of the triangle, which is located on a sidewalk at a street corner. The triangle is outside the Village Cigars shop and the Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station of the New York City Subway. The triangle can be seen on the sidewalk toward the left side of the photo.|Location of the triangle in 2015, outside the Village Cigars shop and the Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station of the New York City Subway. The triangle can be seen on the sidewalk toward the left side of the photo.]]
The '''Hess triangle''' is a triangular, {{convert|500|in2|cm2|adj=on}} plot of private land in the middle of a public sidewalk at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.<ref name="Hershkowitz y919">{{cite web | last=Hershkowitz | first=Toby | title=Hess Triangle: The weird, wild origin story of NYC's tiniest piece of private property in Greenwich Village | website=ABC7 Los Angeles | date=July 28, 2022 | url=https://abc7.com/hess-triangle-greenwich-village-nyc-history-walking-tours/12077625/ | access-date=January 19, 2025}}</ref> The plot is an isosceles triangle{{Efn|name=dimension|Sources disagree on the triangle's dimensions. WABC-TV cites the triangle as measuring {{convert|24.5|in}} along its base and {{convert|26.5|in}} along its sides.<ref name="Hershkowitz y919"/> ''The Village Voice'' cites the triangle as measuring {{convert|25.5|in}} along its base and {{convert|27.5|in}} along its sides.<ref name="Kim2011" />}} covered by a mosaic plaque that reads:
{{Blockquote |text=PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES<ref name="Kim2011" />}}
The Hess Triangle is the result of a dispute between the city government and the estate of David Hess, a landlord from Philadelphia who owned the Voorhis, a five-story apartment building.<ref name="McKinley1995" /> In the early 1910s, the city claimed eminent domain to acquire and demolish 253 buildings in the area in order to widen Seventh Avenue and expand the IRT subway.<ref name="Kim2011" /><ref name="Carlson2015" /><ref name="Guiberteau2019" /> By 1913, the Hess family had exhausted all legal options.<ref name="Guiberteau2019" /> However, according to Ross Duff Wyttock writing in the ''Hartford Courant'' in 1928, Hess's heirs identified that a small corner of Plot 55 had been excluded during the city’s seizure of the Voorhis property and subsequently filed a notice of possession.<ref name="Kim2011" /> The city asked the family to donate the diminutive property to the public, but they chose to hold out and installed the present, defiant mosaic on July 27, 1922.<ref name="road27150" /><ref name="Carlson2010" />
In 1938, the property, reported to be the smallest plot in New York City, was sold to the adjacent Village Cigars store (United Cigars at that time) for {{US$|100|1938}}.<ref name="Barron2019" /> Later, Yeshiva University came to own the property, including the Hess Triangle, and in October 1995,<ref name="FT_1260004891226" /> it was sold by Yeshiva to 70 Christopher Realty Corporation.<ref name="Snetiker2015" /> Subsequent owners have left the plaque intact.<ref name="Guiberteau2019" /><ref name="Plitt2017" />
The triangle and Village Cigars shop behind it were briefly listed for sale in 2021.<ref name="Chang Offenhartz 2021 r460">{{cite web | last1=Chang | first1=Sophia | last2=Offenhartz | first2=Jake | title=Village Cigars And The Hess Spite Triangle Are For Sale | website=Gothamist | date=February 3, 2021 | url=https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/christopher-street-triangle-home-village-cigars-be-sold | access-date=February 10, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Schulz 2021 x794">{{cite web | last=Schulz | first=Dana | title=Historic Village Cigars building will be sold | website=6sqft | date=February 3, 2021 | url=https://www.6sqft.com/historic-village-cigars-building-and-hess-triangle-will-be-sold/ | access-date=February 10, 2024}}</ref> No sale took place, and Village Cigars closed in 2024, ending 102 years of use as a cigar shop.<ref name="closed">{{cite news |last1=Quittner |first1=Ella |title=Village Cigars Has Closed After Decades on Christopher Street |url=https://www.curbed.com/article/village-cigars-closed-west-village-historic-smoke-shop.html |work=Curbed |date=8 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="so-long">{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=Kevin |title=SO LONG VILLAGE CIGARS |url=https://forgotten-ny.com/2024/02/so-long-village-cigars/ |access-date=10 May 2026 |work=Forgotten New York |date=9 February 2024}}</ref> A Georgian restaurant called Mamali replaced the cigar shop but kept its distinctive red-and-white signs.<ref name="mamali">{{cite news |title=Mamali Brings Georgian Flavors to Iconic Village Spot |url=https://cititour.com/NYC_News/Mamali-Brings-Georgian-Flavors-to-Iconic-Village-Spot/9845 |work=Cititour.com |date=1 Sep 2025}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== <references>
<ref name="McKinley1995">{{cite news |first = Jesse |last = McKinley |newspaper = The New York Times |title = F.Y.I. |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/16/nyregion/fyi-134995.html |date = April 16, 1995 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |url-access=limited}}</ref> <ref name="Kim2011">{{cite news |first = Betsy |last = Kim |work = The Villager |publisher = NYC Community Media |title = Tiles Underfoot Recall Owner Who Put His Foot Down |url = http://thevillager.com/villager_432/tilesunderfoot.html |date = August 4–10, 2011 |volume = 81 |number = 10 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010725/http://thevillager.com/villager_432/tilesunderfoot.html |archive-date = March 5, 2016 |url-status = dead}}</ref> <ref name="road27150">{{cite web |work = Roadside America |title = Hess Triangle |url = http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/27150 |access-date = September 13, 2014}}</ref> <ref name="Carlson2010">{{cite news |first = Jen |last = Carlson |work = Gothamist |url = http://gothamist.com/2010/11/01/teeny_tiny_private_piece_of_land.php |title = Hess's Old Teeny Tiny Message to City |date = November 1, 2010 |access-date = September 13, 2014 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160614205814/http://gothamist.com/2010/11/01/teeny_tiny_private_piece_of_land.php |archivedate = June 14, 2016}}</ref> <ref name="Carlson2015">{{cite news |first = Jen |last = Carlson |work = Gothamist |title = The Story Behind Hess Triangle, Once The Littlest Piece Of Land In NYC |url = http://gothamist.com/2015/04/09/hess_triangle_history.php |date = April 9, 2015 |access-date = April 9, 2015 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150409183637/http://gothamist.com/2015/04/09/hess_triangle_history.php |archivedate = April 9, 2015}}</ref> <ref name="Plitt2017">{{cite web |first = Amy |last = Plitt |website = Curbed |title = In the West Village, a remnant of NYC's onetime smallest plot of land remains |url = https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/17/15983702/west-village-hess-triangle-history |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171203153918/https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/17/15983702/west-village-hess-triangle-history |url-status = dead |archive-date = December 3, 2017 |date = July 17, 2017 |access-date = December 2, 2017}}</ref> <ref name="Barron2019">{{cite news |first = James |last = Barron |work = The New York Times |title = Grace Notes: How a 25-Inch Plot of Land in Greenwich Village Embodied 'a Resistance' |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/nyregion/hess-triangle-greenwich-village.html |date = February 10, 2019 |access-date = February 10, 2019 |url-access=limited}}</ref> <ref name="Guiberteau2019">{{Cite web |last=Guiberteau |first=Olivier |date=March 15, 2019 |title=New York's cheeky symbol of defiance |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190314-new-yorks-cheeky-symbol-of-defiance |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023034130/https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190314-new-yorks-cheeky-symbol-of-defiance |archive-date=October 23, 2021 |access-date=March 16, 2019 |publisher=BBC |language=en}}</ref> <ref name="FT_1260004891226">{{cite web |title = Deed, Sec. 2, Block No. 591, Lot 54 |url = https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=FT_1260004891226 |publisher = New York City Department of Finance, Office of the City Register |access-date = June 1, 2020 |page = Reel 2256, Page 0368 |date = October 18, 1995}}</ref> <ref name="Snetiker2015">{{cite web |last1 = Snetiker |first1 = Lauren |title = Hess Triangle: What was Once the Smallest Piece of Property in New York City |url = https://gvshp.org/blog/2015/09/25/hess-triangle-what-was-once-the-smallest-piece-of-property-in-new-york-city/ |publisher = Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation |access-date = June 1, 2020 |date = September 25, 2015}}</ref>
</references>
{{West Village}}
Category:1922 establishments in New York City Category:20th century in New York City Category:American mosaics Category:Christopher Street Category:Individual signs in the United States Category:Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Category:Real estate holdout Category:Triangles Category:West Village Category:Triangles named after people