South Street Seaport
The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, within the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district. It is part of Manhattan Community Board 1 and is next to the East River to the southeast and the Two Bridges neighborhood to the northeast.
The district features some of the oldest buildings in Lower Manhattan, and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. This includes renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern tourist malls featuring food, shopping, and nightlife.
History
Early history
17th and 18th centuries
The first pier in the area appeared in 1625, when the Dutch West India Company founded an outpost there. With the influx of the first settlers, the area was quickly developed. One of the first and busiest streets in the area was today's Pearl Street, so named for a variety of coastal pearl shells. Due to its location, Pearl Street quickly gained popularity among traders. The East River was eventually narrowed. By the second half of the 17th century, the pier was extended to Water Street, then to Front Street, and by the beginning of the 19th century, to South Street. The pier was well reputed, as it was protected from the westerly winds and ice of the Hudson River.In 1728, the Schermerhorn family established trade with the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Subsequently, rice and indigo came from Charleston. At the time, the port was also the focal point of delivery of goods from England. In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, the British occupied the port, adversely affecting port trade for eight years. In 1783, many traders returned to England, and most port enterprises collapsed. The port quickly recovered from the post-war crisis. From 1797 until the middle of 19th century, New York had the country's largest system of maritime trade. From 1815 to 1860 the port was called the Port of New York.
On February 22, 1784, the Empress of China sailed from the port to Guangzhou and returned to Philadelphia on May 15, 1785, bringing along, in its cargo, green and black teas, porcelain, and other goods. This operation marked the beginning of trade relations between the newly formed United States and the Qing Empire.
Early and mid-19th century
On January 5, 1818, the 424-ton transatlantic packet James Monroe sailed from Liverpool, opening the first regular trans-Atlantic voyage route, the Black Ball Line. Shipping on this route continued until 1878. Commercially successful transatlantic traffic has led to the creation of many competing companies, including the Red Star Line in 1822. Transportation significantly contributed to the establishment New York as one of the centers of world trade.One of the largest companies in the South Street Seaport area was the Fulton Fish Market, opened in 1822. The Tin Building opened within the market in 1907; it is one of two remaining structures from the market and the only one that is officially designated as a landmark. In 2005, the market moved to Hunts Point, Bronx.
In November 1825, the Erie Canal, located upstate, was opened. The canal, connecting New York to the western United States, facilitated the economic development of the city. However, for this reason, along with the beginning of the shipping era, there was a need to lengthen the piers and deepen the port.
On the night of December 17, 1835, a large fire in New York City destroyed 17 blocks, and many buildings in the South Street Seaport burned to the ground. Nevertheless, by the 1840s, the port recovered, and by 1850, it reached its heyday:
The first Fulton Market burned down in 1878 and was replaced with a red-brick Victorian building four years later.
Late 19th to mid-20th centuries
At its peak, the port hosted many commercial enterprises, institutions, ship-chandlers, workshops, boarding houses, saloons, and brothels. However, by the 1880s, the port began to be depleted of resources, space for the development of these businesses was diminishing, and the port became too shallow for newer ships. By the 1930s, most of the piers no longer functioned, and cargo ships docked mainly on ports on the West Side and in Hoboken. The second Fulton Market was demolished in 1951 and replaced with a utilitarian building. By the 1960s, the old Ward Line docks, comprising Piers 15, 16, and part of 17, were mostly vacant.Late-20th century redevelopment
Creation of Seaport Museum
Peter Stanford and his wife Norma cofounded the Friends of South Street in 1966. The next year, Peter began advocating for the creation of a museum around South and Fulton streets. The museum was tentatively planned to include a rigger docked permanently at Pier 16, as well as a series of buildings in a three-block area around South, Fulton, Front, and Beekman streets. At the time, the New York State Legislature had already passed legislation to permit a museum on Schermerhorn Row, near South and Fulton streets. The newly-formed South Street Seaport Museum met in June 1967 to discuss the plans, which city officials viewed as a long-shot proposal due to the large number of approvals and permits required. The Titanic Memorial, formerly mounted atop the Seamen's Church Institute building near Coenties Slip, was gifted to the museum in 1968, though the memorial would not be dedicated for another eight years.Meanwhile, the museum's supporters bought up property surrounding Schermerhorn Row and the Fulton Fish Market. By 1968, Stanford and his associates had discovered that real-estate developers were buying up some of the property that the museum wanted to acquire, with the intent of demolishing these buildings. The museum also began obtaining vessels with the acquisition of the Lightship Ambrose, the fishing schooner Caviar, and the iron-hulled ship Wavertree. The restoration was planned to cost $20 million by 1969, at which point the museum was to cover. by then, the museum owned four ships and had a small exhibit space. Restoration of the first building officially began on May 15, 1969. After the New York City Planning Commission approved the South Street Seaport Museum's plans for the site the same month, the museum's sponsors acquired two blocks of Schermerhorn Row that July. Atlas-McGrath, which had wanted to redevelop Schermerhorn Row, eventually agreed to give the buildings to the museum in exchange for the sites' air rights. However, the museum had to spend millions of dollars in legal fees related to Schermerhorn Row.
By the early 1970s, the Seaport Museum operated an exhibit hall, a bookstore–art gallery, piers 15 and 16, and six ships. The museum regularly hosted cultural events at the seaport, including sea shanty songs and miniature folk festivals. The museum had a half-million annual visitors, and Friends of the South Street Seaport had grown to include 17,000 members. In March 1972, city mayor John V. Lindsay and state governor Nelson Rockefeller announced that the Seaport would be expanded to as part of the construction of Manhattan Landing, a $1.2 billion development on the East River shoreline. There were plans for the Seaport to include several additional museums, stores, hotels, and a functional shipyard. The City Planning Commission approved Manhattan Landing that May and voted to create a special planning district for the Seaport the next month. Despite the approvals, the Manhattan Landing project had stalled by 1975.
The city acquired four blocks of the Seaport area in July 1973, while the Seaport Museum continued to operate these sites under a leaseback arrangement. This enabled the city to sell the blocks' air rights to the New York Telephone Company, which was erecting a skyscraper nearby. That October, the museum announced that it would renovate three blocks of the Seaport; this was part of a restoration that was planned in advance of the United States Bicentennial. Stanford left the Seaport Museum in 1976. The museum's leadership, which by then had barely enough money to keep the Seaport buildings in good shape, decided to seek a commercial partner to help them redevelop the South Street Seaport. The city government, which had recently recovered from a fiscal crisis, would not be eligible for loans from many banks, requiring the involvement of a private developer. In December 1977, the Seaport Museum and Baltimore-based real-estate developer The Rouse Company each agreed to spend $250,000 on a feasibility study for a possible redevelopment of the Seaport area.
1980s commercial redevelopment
South Street Seaport Festival Marketplace (Pier 17 Pavilion, Fulton Market Building, and the Tin Building)
The South Street Seaport Festival Marketplace is a downtown festival marketplace at the South Street Seaport, and it once consisted of three shopping malls: the Pier 17 Pavilion which also included an office building, the renovated Tin Building, and the fourth Fulton Market Building. As of January 2026, the Fulton Market is the only Rouse structure still in operation at the area, as Pier 17 was razed and the Tin Building was dismantled and reconstructed.Pre-construction and development
In September 1979, The Rouse Company, the New York State Urban Development Corporation, the New York City government, and the South Street Seaport Museum tentatively agreed on a plan to redevelop the South Street Seaport. The project was likened to Harborplace in Baltimore which was currently under construction at the time, and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, which Rouse had previously completed in 1976.Subsequently, in June 1980, the New York City Board of Estimate gave city officials permission to request a $28 million federal grant for the redevelopment. The Board of Estimate approved the commercial-district plan that November, despite concerns over substantial rent increases and a lack of public access. At the time, it was expected to cost about $203 million or $211 million and create 4,600 jobs. Key components of the proposal included a commercial, hotel, and office building, as well as a new Fulton Market building covering. That December the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development approved a $20.45 million grant for the project.
Though some local business owners had concerns that they would be forced out due to rent increases, Kenneth Schuman, the New York City Commissioner for Economic Development, said the project "would allow New Yorkers to rediscover the long-obliterated, but historic, link between the city and its waterfront". Developers began converting two buildings in the Seaport district into residential structures in 1981, and the Board of Estimate gave final approval to the project that October. By that year, the Seaport Museum had spent $9 million on ship restoration in the preceding twelve years. Seaport Museum subsidiary South Street Seaport Corporation took a 99-year lease on the site in 1982 and became the Fulton Market's landlord. Also in 1982, the museum acquired 285 mid-20th-century Van Ryper ship models and archival materials from Charles King Van Riper's son, Anthony K. Van Riper.
For the redevelopment into a festival marketplace, The Rouse Company formed the subsidiary Seaport Marketplace, Inc. The first phase of the South Street Seaport redevelopment was completed on July 28, 1983, covering four blocks of the South Street Seaport U.S. historic district. This project included construction of the fourth Fulton Market Building, a three-story building designed by Benjamin C. Thompson, with about of space. The project also included a renovation of 14 buildings in the South Street Seaport Museum and 12 buildings in Schermerhorn Row. Within a few months of its completion, the first phase of the redevelopment was credited with helping attract commercial activity to the area. The second phase was to include another structure on Pier 17 with. The Pier 17 Pavilion opened on September 11, 1985; the original Pier 17 Pavilion included an office building and a three-story, Victorian-style red shopping mall, a structure that combined Piers 17 and 18, housing approximately 120–150 shops and restaurants. The Pier 17 Pavilion was also designed by Benjamin Thompson and developed by The Rouse Company, and its design is comparable to Harborplace, Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, and Bayside Marketplace in Miami. The Pier 17 Pavilion was also referred to as Pier 17 Mall or The Mall at South Street Seaport.