New York: SoHo

Downtown New York has plenty to offer, from historic architecture to Mexican cuisine and independent cinemas

- By Hannah Brandler. Photographs by IStock, Roman Tiraspolsky and NYC and company

1 ARCHITECTURE

The section of Lower Manhattan draws its name from its location south of Houston Street, a boho-chic locale which boasts cobblestoned streets and the world’s largest concentration of cast-iron structures. The area bounded by Broadway, West Broadway, Canal Street, Howard Street, Crosby Street, East Houston Street and West Houston Street was designated the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District in 1973 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Cast iron was used for construction in the mid to late 1800s as a strong and affordable alternative to granite and marble. The spacious interiors, high ceilings and large windows appealed to artists in the 1960s and 1970s, who transformed SoHo’s abandoned warehouses and factories into loftstudios. Nowadays, high-end boutiques and galleries fill the walls. One of the best examples of the architecture is the EV Haughwout Building on the corner of Broome Street and Broadway. Built in 1857, it features two cast-iron street fronts and was home to the world’s first steam-powered, hydraulic, passenger elevator by Elisha Graves Otis.

2 HOUSING WORKS