PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES[2]
The Hess Triangle is the result of a dispute between the city government and the estate of David Hess, a landlord from Philadelphia who owned the Voorhis, a five-story apartment building.[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.[2][4][5] By 1913, the Hess family had exhausted all legal options.[5] However, according to Ross Duff Wyttock writing in the Hartford Courant in 1928, Hess's heirs identified that a small corner of Plot 55 had been excluded during the city’s seizure of the Voorhis property and subsequently filed 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.[6][7]
In 1938 the property, reported to be the smallest plot in New York City, was sold to the adjacent Village Cigars store (United Cigars at that time) for US$100 (equivalent to $2,234 in 2024).[8] Later, Yeshiva University came to own the property, including the Hess Triangle, and in October 1995[9] it was sold by Yeshiva to 70 Christopher Realty Corporation.[10] Subsequent owners have left the plaque intact.[5][11] The triangle and Village Cigars shop behind it were placed on sale in 2021.[12][13]
Notes
^ abSources disagree on the triangle's dimensions. WABC-TV cites the triangle as measuring 24.5 inches (620 mm) along its base and 26.5 inches (670 mm) along its sides.[1]The Village Voice cites the triangle as measuring 25.5 inches (650 mm) along its base and 27.5 inches (700 mm) along its sides.[2]
^"Deed, Sec. 2, Block No. 591, Lot 54". New York City Department of Finance, Office of the City Register. October 18, 1995. p. Reel 2256, Page 0368. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
