Hess Triangle: The Defiant Plot of Land Underfoot in Greenwich Village
What does it take to hold onto property in Greenwich Village? For the Hess family, a surveying mistake and a subway expansion turned their land into the tiniest piece of private property in existence in New York City — so tiny that the City of New York thought that the family wouldn’t care to assert their ownership. But they did.
The Hess Triangle is a triangular mosaic located in front of Village Cigars (which closed in February of 2024). The mosaic marks the ‘lot’ of land at 110 7th Avenue, which is approximately 27½” x 27½” x 25½.” The mosaic reads:
“PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES”
Who was this message originally for? Why was this triangle, which can be practically hidden by a single person standing on it, ever considered its own entity, and fought over in court?
The answer lies partially in its unusual triangular shape. In 1919, Seventh Avenue was extended below West 11th Street, to facilitate the IRT subway line down the west side (which now includes the 1, 2, and 3 trains), creating Seventh Avenue South. The expansion was controversial at the time. The trajectory of the expansion meant that existing lots were divided diagonally into triangles, and in some cases the buildings occupying those lots were sliced at bizarre angles. Quite a few of these buildings are still standing, with their unorthodox shapes as a relic of the expansion. Three hundred buildings along an 11-block stretch were not so lucky to be sliced at the corners, but were instead condemned by the city and slated for demolition.
On one of the ill-fated sites was the Voorhis building, a 5-story apartment building owned by the Hess family. Surveyors, perhaps taking less care than usual while marking the demolition area, missed a sliver of the Hess’ property. The city discovered the mistake after the IRT line and avenue expansion was completed. City officials attempted to negotiate with the family to donate the piece of land, but they refused. In July of 1922, the heirs to the original site installed a mosaic, which delivered its now-famous message to the city.
A court battle ensued over ownership of the triangle, which eventually ended with members of the family selling the lot to Village Cigars in 1938 for $1,000. It has since had a series of owners, all of whom have left the mosaic intact.
Over 100 years later, the Hess Triangle remains an icon of Greenwich Village—its non-conformity, its diminutive scale, its resistance to urban renewal plans from City Hall, its crooked streets and oddly-shaped properties. The charming determination and attachment to history manifested in the triangle continues to attract visitors and admirers more than a century later, and hopefully will for at least a century more.