Hess triangle

The Hess triangle is a triangular, 500-square-inch (3,200 cm2) 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.

[1] The plot is an isosceles triangle[a] covered by a mosaic plaque that reads "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes.

[3] 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.

[5] However, according to Ross Duff Wyttock writing in the Hartford Courant in 1928, Hess's heirs discovered that when the city seized the Voorhis the survey had missed a small corner of Plot 55 and they set up a notice of possession.

[2] 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.

Detail of the triangle, which contains the text "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes."
Triangle detail
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, 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.