Bowling Green

Manhattan, New York City

Built in 1733 as a public park off Broadway. It contained a bowling green from which it takes its name and the space itself was first used as a cattle market from 1638 in the days of New Amsterdam. Bowling Green is the oldest public park in New York City and is still surrounded by its original 18th-century fence. After the Revolution, a grand Palladian mansion was built on the Green that the city hoped would become the President's House, but that never transpired and it was demolished in 1815....

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This house is best associated with...

John Stevens Jr.

of Broadway, New York City; Vice-President of the New Jersey Provincial Council

1715-1792

Robert Robert Livingston Jr.

Robert R. Livingston "The Chancellor" 1st Chancellor of New York

1746-1813

Stephen Whitney

Stephen Whitney, Merchant, of New York City

1776-1860

Nonetheless, it attracted fashionable society and many elegant townhouses sprung up around its perimeter, notably Archibald Kennedy's pedimented mansion on the corner, though addressed as No. 1 Broadway. Other notable early residents included Chancellor Robert Livingston at No. 5; John Stevens; and, Stephen Whitney at No. 7. By 1850, Lafayette Street was opened up and Washington Square Park and Fifth Avenue were completed. Fashionable society shifted north and the grand townhouses were converted into commercial premises, resulting for the first time in full public access to the park.

Contributed by Mark Meredith on 14/02/2020 and last updated on 28/01/2024.

Bowling Green, 1845, Courtesy of the New York Public Library

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