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74-459: The nearby Jefferson Market Courthouse attracted many politicians including U.S. President Chester A. Arthur who visited the tavern many times. It was demolished in 1915. 40°44′07″N 73°59′54″W  /  40.73536°N 73.99832°W  / 40.73536; -73.99832 This New York City –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jefferson Market Library The Jefferson Market Branch of

148-557: A National Historic Landmark in 1977, both under the name "Third Judicial District Courthouse". The building received further restoration in 1994 by preservationist architect Joseph Pell Lombardi . In 1996 "Ol' Jeff", the fire bell, silent in the Tower for 135 years, regained its voice with Margot Gayle's help, thanks to Cynthia Crane and Marilyn Dorato. It strikes the hours from 9am to 10pm. On April 13, 1997, The New York Times wrote: "The bell has newly and unexpectedly connected

222-423: A 50-story condominium tower. The area where Madison Square is now had been a swampy hunting ground crossed by Cedar Creek – which was later renamed Madison Creek – from east to west, and first came into use as a public space in 1686. It was used as a potter's field in the 1700s. In 1807, "The Parade", a tract of about 240 acres (97 ha) from 23rd to 34th Streets and Third to Seventh Avenues ,

296-474: A National Historic Landmark in 1977. The AIA Guide to New York City calls the building "A mock Neuschwansteinian assemblage ... of leaded glass, steeply sloping roofs, gables , pinnacles , Venetian Gothic embellishments, and an intricate tower and clock; one of the City's most remarkable buildings." A tall octagonal wooden fire lookout tower was the first building on the site, built circa 1833, located in

370-669: A bed. Though Madison Cottage itself was razed in 1852, it ultimately gave rise to the names for the adjacent avenue ( Madison Avenue ) and park, which are therefore only indirectly named after President James Madison. The roots of the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club , one of the first organized baseball teams, are in Madison Square. Amateur players began in 1842 to use a vacant sandlot at 27th and Madison for their games and, eventually, Alexander Cartwright suggested they draw up rules for

444-552: A building that still stands, addressed as 202 Fifth Avenue; Gilbert also displayed its train layouts. Lionel eventually bought up Gilbert in 1967. The toy industry gravitated to the area during World War I, with a number of toy manufacturers having locations at 200 Fifth Avenue – where the Fifth Avenue Hotel once stood – and which eventually became the International Toy Center . In 1967,

518-575: A business district, while Broadway just north of the square holds many small "wholesale" and import shops. The area west of the square remains mostly commercial, but with many residential structures being built. In 1989, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission had created the Ladies' Mile Historic District to protect and preserve the area. Additionally, since 2001, the Madison Square North Historic District for

592-695: A cab $ 50 for the ride; Chester Alan Arthur , the 21st President of the United States ; and David Farragut, who is supposed to have said "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War . The Farragut Memorial (1881), which was first erected at Fifth Avenue and 26th Street and moved to the Square's northern end in 1935, was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (sculpture) and architect Stanford White (base). Along

666-406: A double personality, half commercial, half social, with shops to the south and residences to the north. It seemed to me so neat, after the raggedness of our Western cities; so protected by good manners and courtesy—like an open-air drawing-room. I could well imagine a winter dancing party being given there, or a reception for some distinguished European visitor. In the early part of the 20th century,

740-415: A farmhouse located at what is now Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street was turned into a roadhouse under the direction of William "Corporal" Thompson (1807–1872), who later renamed it "Madison Cottage", after the former president. The roadhouse was the last stop for people traveling northward out of the city, or the first stop for those arriving from the north; visitors were encouraged not to sleep more than five to

814-513: A heat wave hit the city in July, people in Madison Park refused to pay the nickel that was now required to sit in the shade. The police became involved, and newspapers like The Sun and William Randolph Hearst 's Evening Journal took up the cause. People began going to the park with the intent of sitting and refusing to pay, and a riot occurred involving a thousand men and boys, who chased

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888-498: A library. In 1961, the New York Public Library agreed to the plan and architect Giorgio Cavaglieri was brought in to restore the exterior and redesign the building's interior for its new use – one of the first adaptive reuse projects in the United States, and a signal event in the historic preservation movement. The restoration is estimated to have cost $ 1.4 million. The library opened in 1967, with

962-554: A luxury hotel built by developer Amos Eno, and initially known as "Eno's Folly" because it was so far away from the hotel district, stood on the west side of Madison Square from 1859 to 1908. It was the first hotel in the nation with elevators , which were steam powered and known as the "vertical railroad", which had the effect of making the upper floors more desirable as they no longer had to be reached by climbing stairs. It had fireplaces in every bedroom, private bathrooms, and public rooms which saw many elegant events. Notable visitors to

1036-705: A playground in the northeast corner. Phase two was to have begun in November 1987, but never got started, leaving the south end of the park unrestored for 11 years. In 1997, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation asked the City Parks Foundation to organize an effort to raise funds to complete the revitalization. Their "Campaign for the New Madison Square Park" led to the renovation and restoration of

1110-580: A preliminary injunction against Clausen's breaking of the contract, but the judge refused to allow him to force the public to pay. The Evening Journal followed by asking for an injunction against pay chairs, and when this was granted Spate gave up. He sold the chairs to Wanamaker's , where they were advertised as "Historic Chairs". Two months later, in September, the Seventy-first Regiment Band played " Nearer, My God, to Thee " in

1184-466: A privately funded program to clean up and maintain the park, the first time that non-public funding was used in New York City for long-term work in the city's parks. Then, in November 1986, ground was broken on what was to become the full-scale restoration of the park. Phase one of the project, involving the north end of the park and Worth Square, was completed in 1988, and included the addition of

1258-590: A salon "for the Encouragement and Promotion of American art" on the south side of the Square. Their American Art Association auction rooms, the first auction house in the US, quickly became the place to go in New York to buy and sell jewelry, antiquities, fine art and rare books. The building that became the first Madison Square Garden at 26th Street and Madison Avenue was built in 1832 as the passenger depot of

1332-497: A syndicate that included J. P. Morgan , Andrew Carnegie , James Stillman and W. W. Astor . The building that replaced it was a Beaux-Arts structure designed by the noted architect Stanford White . White kept an apartment in the building, and was shot dead in the Garden's rooftop restaurant by millionaire Harry K. Thaw over an affair White had with Thaw's wife, the well-known actress Evelyn Nesbit , who White seduced when she

1406-489: Is commemorated by the illuminated Star of Hope on a tall pole, installed in 1916 at the southern end of the park. Today the Madison Square Park Conservancy continues to present an annual tree-lighting ceremony sponsored by local businesses. Author Willa Cather described Madison Square around 1915 in her novel My Mortal Enemy (1926): Madison Square was then at the parting of the ways; had

1480-463: Is not unusual that his High Victorian Gothic design was similar in some respects to the " Ruskinian Gothic " aesthetic of Vaux's early buildings, such as in its polychrome materials – red brick, black stone, white granite, yellow sandstone trim and variegated roof slates. Reasoning that a building with a clock tower was going to look like a church no matter what he did, Withers decided to add church-like touches with non-religious content, such as

1554-757: The New York Herald installed a giant searchlight among the girders of the Metropolitan Life Tower to signal election results. A northward beam signaled a win for the Republican candidate, and a southward beam for the Democrat. The beam went north, signaling the victory of Republican William Howard Taft . America's first community Christmas tree was illuminated in Madison Square Park on December 24, 1912, an event which

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1628-660: The New York Times , who installed a sign made up of electric lights. Eno later put a canvas screen on the wall, and projected images on it from a magic lantern on top of one of his smaller buildings on the lot, presenting both advertisements and interesting pictures in alternation. Both the Times and the New York Tribune began using the screen for news bulletins, and on election nights crowds of tens of thousands of people would gather in Madison Square, waiting for

1702-537: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 . It reopened in July 2022. The library manager is Frank Collerius who also presents the New York Public Library's podcast The Librarian Is In . Notes Madison Square Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan . The square

1776-673: The Arch of Constantine in Rome. Once again, a bid to make the arch permanent failed. The park was the site of an unusual public protest in 1901. Oscar Spate, a displaced Londoner, convinced the Parks Commissioner, George Clausen, to allow him to pay the city $ 500 a year to put 200 cushioned rocking chairs in Madison Square Park, Union Square , and Central Park and charge the public 5 cents for their use. Free benches were moved away from shaded areas, and Spate's chairs replaced them. When

1850-726: The New York Public Library , once known as the Jefferson Market Courthouse , is a National Historic Landmark located at 425 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), on the southwest corner of West 10th Street , in Greenwich Village , Manhattan , New York City , on a triangular plot formed by Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street. It was originally built as the Third Judicial District Courthouse from 1874 to 1877, and

1924-615: The New York and Harlem Rail Road , and was later used by the New York and New Haven Railroad as well; both were owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt . When the depot moved uptown in 1871 to Grand Central Depot , the building stood vacant until 1873, when it was leased to P. T. Barnum who converted it into the open-air "Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome" for circus performances, exhibits transferred from Barnum's American Museum , as well as cowboys and "Indians" , tattooed men, bicycle races , dog shows , and horse shows . In 1875

1998-465: The Philippines the year before. The arch was intended to be temporary, but remained in place until 1901 when efforts to have the arch rebuilt in stone failed, and it was demolished. Fifteen years passed, and in 1918 Mayor John F. Hylan had a Victory Arch built at about the same location to honor the city's war dead. Thomas Hastings designed a triple arch which cost $ 80,000 and was modeled after

2072-572: The Woolworth Building was completed. As of 2020 , the Met Life Tower contains a luxury hotel within its clock tower, while the building's office space is being renovated. The 700-foot (210 m) marble clock tower of this building dominates the park. The Met Life Tower absorbed the site of the architecturally distinguished 1854 building of the former Madison Square Presbyterian Church, designed by architect Richard Upjohn on

2146-783: The centennial of the opening of Madison Avenue, the Fifth Avenue Association donated an oak from Montpelier , the Virginia estate of former president James Madison . It is located toward the center of the eastern perimeter of the park. The New York City Department of Traffic announced a plan in 1964 to build a parking garage underneath the park, much like the Boston Common , Union Square in San Francisco and MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. The plan

2220-406: The tympanum which shows a scene from The Merchant of Venice instead of the usual scene of Christ sitting in judgment or other ecclesiastical subject matter. The building also features stained glass windows and a fountain decorated with birds and animals. The courthouse was completed in 1877, and in 1885 a panel of American architects sponsored by American Architect and Building News voted it

2294-581: The Fifth Avenue Hotel could be built on the site. In 1853, plans had been made to build the Crystal Palace there, but strong public opposition and protests caused the palace to be relocated by the Board of Aldermen to the site of present-day Bryant Park . During the 1863 New York City draft riots , 10,000 Federal troops brought in to control the rioters encamped in Madison Square and Washington Square , as well as Stuyvesant Square . Madison Square

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2368-400: The Garden was sub-let to the noted band leader Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore , who filled the space with trees, flowers and fountains and named it "Gilmore's Concert Garden". Gilmore's band of 100 musicians played 150 consecutive concerts there, and continued to perform in the Garden for two years. After he gave up his sub-let, others presented marathon races, temperance and revival meetings, balls,

2442-843: The Hoffman House, the Brunswick and the Victoria, opened in the surrounding area, as did entertainment venues such as the Madison Square Theatre and Chickering Hall. Upscale restaurants such a Delmonico's and high-end retail shops opened up along Fifth Avenue and Broadway, in addition, nearby exclusive private clubs such as the Union , Athenaeum and Lotos clubs, began to open. But also, "concert-saloons", like "The Luovre", full of waitresses in provocative short skirts who served drinks and provided music-hall entertainment for

2516-411: The Madison Square area. Initially, the houses around the park were narrow, crowded and dark brownstone rowhouses with small rooms easily subject to becoming cluttered. Today, the only remnant of these brownstones is a single building at 14 East 23rd Street. Despite this beginning, through the 1870s, the neighborhood became an aristocratic one of brownstone row houses and mansions where the elite of

2590-526: The annual French Ball, both the Barnum and the Ringling Brothers circuses, orchestral performances, light operas and romantic comedies, and the 1924 Democratic National Convention , which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots, but it was never a financial success. It was torn down soon after, and the venue moved uptown. Today, the arena retains its name, even though it is no longer located in

2664-549: The area north and west of the park, in the neighborhood that since 1999 has been referred to as NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park "). On the south end of Madison Square, southwest of the park, is the Flatiron Building , one of the oldest of the original New York skyscrapers, and just to east at 1 Madison Avenue is the Met Life Tower , built in 1909 and the tallest building in the world until 1913, when

2738-467: The area of Madison Square. To celebrate the centennial of George Washington 's first inauguration, in 1889 two temporary arches were erected over Fifth Avenue and 23rd and 26th Streets. Just ten years later, in 1899, the Dewey Arch was built over Fifth Avenue and 24th Street at Madison Square for the parade in honor of Admiral George Dewey , celebrating his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay in

2812-647: The carefully massed eclectic and picturesque group, only the former Courthouse now remains. The commission for the new courthouse went to the firm of Vaux and Withers, but as Calvert Vaux was busy with the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the design fell to his partner, the English-born Frederick Clarke Withers . Withers came from the same background as Vaux, so it

2886-522: The center expanded up Broadway to an additional building at 1107 Broadway, and the two were connected by a pedestrian bridge. The Toy Center was for many years the site of the annual New York Toy Fair until 2005, when the center closed. Some of the major manufacturers, such as Mattel and Hasbro , expanded out of the Toy Center building into their own headquarters nearby, Mattel on West 23rd Street and Hasbro on Sixth Avenue . In 1936, to commemorate

2960-640: The center of the merchants' sheds at the Jefferson Market that had been established at this site in 1832 and named for the late President . Court sessions were held in the Jefferson Assembly Rooms that rose above the market sheds. The wood tower and the market structures were torn down by the city to build a new courthouse, the adjacent Jefferson Market Prison building that stood on the corner of West 10th Street and Greenwich Avenue and new coordinated market housing (built in 1883). Of

3034-406: The chairs' attendant out of the park and overturned and broke up chairs and benches. The police were called, but the disturbance nevertheless continued for several days. On July 11, Clausen annulled the city's 5-year contract with Spate (whose real name was Reginald Seymour), prompting a celebration with bands and fireworks in Madison Square Park attended by 10,000 people. Spate went to court and got

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3108-449: The city lived; Theodore Roosevelt , Edith Wharton and Winston Churchill 's mother, Jennie Jerome , were all born here. Madison Cottage was torn down in 1852 to make way for Franconi's Hippodrome, which lasted only for two years. It was an arena which seated 10,000 customers, and presented chariot races on its 40-foot (12 m) wide track, as well as exotic animals such as elephants and camels. A money-loser, it would be razed so that

3182-745: The city. In 1879, the city authorized the Brush Electric Light Company to build a generating station at 25th Street, powered by steam, that provided electricity for a series of arc lights which were installed on Broadway between Union Square (at 14th Street ) and Madison Square. The lights were illuminated on December 20, 1880. A year later, 160-foot (49 m) "sun towers" with clusters of arc lights were erected in Union and Madison Squares. The area around Madison Square continued to be commercially fashionable, if not residentially. In 1883, art dealer Thomas Kirby and two others established

3256-579: The community surrounding the building on Avenue of the Americas at 10th Street, helping to put the concept of village back in Greenwich Village; it serves as a powerful, an hourly, reminder of the values of architectural preservation ." There are annual tours of the tower, typically during Open House New York weekend in October. By 2012 the building's exterior was once again in need of restoration, deteriorated ornaments were re-sculpted from

3330-451: The customers, began to appear as well; the waitresses were often willing to take the male customers upstairs to private rooms, or to one of the many nearby brothels which had also started to pop up. With the center of the expanding city moving north by the turn of the century, and the neighborhood becoming commercialized, elite residents moved farther uptown, away from Madison Square, enabling more restaurants, theatres and clubs to open up in

3404-600: The fifth most beautiful building in America. The building got substantial use as a courthouse, as the Third Judicial District covered the Madison Square area, where the city's entertainment district – The Tenderloin – was located. So heavy was the traffic, that the country's first night court began there. Among the more noted people arraigned in the courthouse was Harry K. Thaw ,

3478-624: The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (1877), as well as boxing "exhibitions" or "illustrated lectures", since competitive boxing matches were illegal at the time. It was finally renamed "Madison Square Garden" in 1879 by William Kissam Vanderbilt , the son of Commodore Vanderbilt , who continued to present sporting events, the National Horse Show, and more boxing, including bouts by John L. Sullivan that drew huge crowds. Vanderbilt eventually sold what Harper's Weekly called his "patched-up grimy, drafty combustible, old shell" to

3552-490: The game and start an organized team. When they lost their sandlot to development, they moved across the Hudson River to Hoboken, New Jersey , where they played their first game in 1846. On May 10, 1847, the 6.2-acre (2.5 ha) Madison Square Park, named after President James Madison , opened to the public. Within a few years, the tide of residential development, which was relentlessly moving uptown, had reached

3626-636: The hotel included Mark Twain , Swedish singer Jenny Lind , railroad tycoon Jay Gould , financier "Big Jim" Fisk , the Prince of Wales and U.S. Presidents James Buchanan , Abraham Lincoln , Andrew Johnson , Ulysses S. Grant , Rutherford B. Hayes , James A. Garfield , Chester A. Arthur , Grover Cleveland , Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley . Theodore Roosevelt 's campaign headquarters for his unsuccessful campaign for mayor in 1886, and his likewise failed campaign for governor in 1898 were located in

3700-532: The hotel. The hotel, which was noted for its "Amen Corner" where Republican political boss Thomas Collier Platt held court in the 1890s, was closed and demolished in 1908. It is reported that patrons of the hotel's bar spent $ 7.000 on drinks on its last day of operation. A plaque on the Toy Center , the building currently on the site, commemorates the hotel. With the success of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which could house 800 guests, other grand hotels such as

3774-517: The latest results. In 1876, a large celebration was held in Madison Square Park to honor the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence . Then, from 1876 to 1882, the torch and arm of the Statue of Liberty were exhibited in the park in an effort to raise funds for building the pedestal of the statue. Madison Square was the site of some of the first electric street lighting in

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3848-512: The murderer of celebrity architect Stanford White . The building ceased to be used as a courthouse in 1945; its future was uncertain, and it was in danger of being torn down. A group of community preservationists led by Margot Gayle and Ruth Wittenberg formed the Committee of Neighbors to Get the Clock on Jefferson Market Courthouse Started and campaigned to have the building converted into

3922-521: The neighborhood around Madison Square Garden became known for the number of clothing manufacturers who had set up shop there, as well as industrial concerns such as the Lionel Train Company , which had its headquarters there, where it displayed its first model train layout. Lionel's competitor, the A. C. Gilbert Company , set up its New York "Hall of Science" in the neighborhood as well, in 1941, on 25th Street across from Worth Square , in

3996-585: The neighborhood, creating an entertainment district, albeit an upscale one where society balls and banquets were held in restaurants such as Delmonico's. Nearby, huge dry-goods emporia such as Siegel-Cooper in the Ladies' Mile district brought daytime crowds of shoppers. No longer primarily residential, Madison Square was still a thriving area. At the western side of Madison Square Park, on an island bordered by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 25th Street, stands an obelisk , designed by James Goodwin Batterson which

4070-592: The original Ohio sandstone. The tower's railings and finial were repaired and resecured. Missing and broken slates were replaced on the slate roof and a new copper drainage system installed. Brick and stone were re-pointed and cleaned. SUPERSTRUCTURES Engineers + Architects led the restoration. The owners and project team were honored by the New York Landmarks Conservancy with its Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 2014. The building had further improvements in 2019 to bring it in compliance with

4144-454: The park as recognition of the death by assassination of President William McKinley . The hymn had been McKinley's favorite. On the election night of November 4, 1902, a fireworks disaster led to the deaths of 15 people (Including Patrolman Dennis Shea of the NYPD) and the wounding of 70, as a display meant to celebrate the election of William Randolph Hearst to Congress misfired. In 1908,

4218-635: The park for 47 years, until 1925 . The current Madison Square Garden , the fourth such building, is not in the area. Notable buildings around Madison Square include the Flatiron Building , the Toy Center , the New York Life Building (built on the site of the first two arenas), the New York Merchandise Mart , the Appellate Division Courthouse , the Met Life Tower , and One Madison Park ,

4292-527: The park in 1867. The modern replacement was installed in 1990, and renovated in 2015. Jemmy's Dog Run is located beside the park's entrance from West 25th Street. It was expanded in 2022. Madison Square continued to be a focus of public activities for the city. In the 1870s, developer Amos Eno 's Cumberland apartment building, which stood on 22nd Street where the Flatiron Building would eventually be built, had four-stories of its back wall facing Madison Square, so Eno rented it out to advertisers, including

4366-582: The park, the addition of a dog run and the return of 1,200 square feet (110 m ) to the southeast corner. An outgrowth of the fund-raising campaign was the formation of Madison Square Park Conservancy, a public-private partnership whose mission is to keep it "a bright, beautiful and active public park." One amenity, added to the park in July 2004, is the Shake Shack , a popular permanent stand that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, shakes and other similar food, as well as wine. Its distinctive building, which

4440-660: The police court becoming the Children's Reading Room, the Civil Court the Adult Reading Room. Budget cutbacks in 1974 caused the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library to vote to close the branch, as well as two others. After an outcry from residents, the decision was rescinded one month later. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and was declared

4514-561: The south edge of the park is the Eternal Light Flagstaff , dedicated on Armistice Day 1923 and restored in 2002, which commemorates the return of American soldiers and sailors from World War I. Another park highlight is the granite Southern Fountain , a modern reproduction of the original fountain, which was first located on the site of the Old Post Office. It was completed in 1843, before being rededicated in

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4588-401: The south is the Flatiron District , an area that, since the 1980s, has changed from a primarily commercial district with many photographer's studios—located there because of the relatively cheap rents—into a prime residential area. Rose Hill is to the north and east of the park, while NoMad is to the north and Chelsea is to the west. Within the area, Madison Avenue continues to be primarily

4662-463: The southwest entrance to the park. Seward, who is best remembered for purchasing Alaska ("Seward's Folly") from Russia, was the first New Yorker to have a monument erected in his honor. Other statues in the park depict Roscoe Conkling , who served in Congress in both the House and the Senate , and who collapsed at that spot in the park while walking home from his office during the Blizzard of 1888 and died five weeks later, after refusing to pay

4736-436: The square are at the northern (uptown) end of the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan. The neighborhood to the north and west of the park is NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park") and to the north and east is Rose Hill . Madison Square is probably best known around the world for providing the name of a sports arena called Madison Square Garden . The original arena and its successor were located just northeast of

4810-412: Was 16. The resulting sensational press coverage of the scandal caused Thaw's trial to be one of the first Trials of the Century . Madison Square became known as "Diana's little wooded park" after the huge bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens that stood atop the 32-story tower of White's arena; at the time it was the second-tallest building in the city. The Garden hosted

4884-408: Was also the site in November 1864 of a political rally, complete with torchlight parade and fireworks, in support of the presidential candidacy of Democrat General George B. McClellan , who was running against his old boss, Abraham Lincoln . It was larger than the Republican parade the night before, which had marched from Madison Square to Union Square to rally there. The Fifth Avenue Hotel ,

4958-483: Was designated for use as an arsenal , a barracks, and a drilling area. There was a United States Army arsenal there from 1811 until 1825 when it became the New York House of Refuge for the Society for the Protection of Juvenile Delinquents, for children under sixteen committed by the courts for indefinite periods. In 1839 the building was destroyed by fire. The size of the tract was reduced in 1814 to 90 acres (36 ha), and it received its current name. In 1839,

5032-400: Was designed by Sculpture in the Environment , an architectural and environmental design firm based in Lower Manhattan , sits near the southeast entrance to the park. In 2010, park designer and horticulturalist Lynden Miller was hired to reconfigure the planting beds. The names of the neighborhoods around Madison Square have changed frequently, and continue to do so. Around the park and to

5106-441: Was designed by architect Frederick Clarke Withers of the firm of Vaux and Withers. Though faced with demolition in 1958, public outcry led to its reuse as a branch of the New York Public Library. The building is now part of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission 's Greenwich Village Historic District , created in 1969. In addition, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and made

5180-407: Was erected in 1857 over the tomb of General William Jenkins Worth , who served in the Seminole Wars and the Mexican War , and for whom Fort Worth, Texas , was named, as well as Worth Street in lower Manhattan. The city's Parks Department designated the area immediately around the monument as a parklet called General Worth Square. Madison Square Park lost some acreage in 1870 when the west side

5254-423: Was named for Founding Father James Madison , fourth President of the United States . The focus of the square is Madison Square Park , a 6.2-acre (2.5-hectare) public park, which is bounded on the east by Madison Avenue (which starts at the park's southeast corner at 23rd Street); on the south by 23rd Street; on the north by 26th Street ; and on the west by Fifth Avenue and Broadway as they cross. The park and

5328-465: Was reduced so that Broadway could be widened and parking provided for hansom cabs , but it was also re-landscaped by William Grant and Ignatz Pilat , a former assistant to Frederick Law Olmsted . The current park maintains their overall design. The new design brought in the sculptures that now reside in the park. One notable sculpture is the seated bronze portrait of Secretary of State William H. Seward , by Randolph Rogers (1876), which sits at

5402-505: Was successfully blocked by preservationists, who cited concerns about the damage that the excavation would cause to the park, particularly the roots of its many trees. On October 17, 1966, a fire at 7 East 23rd Street resulted in one of the deadliest building collapses in the history of the New York City Fire Department , when 12 FDNY staff—two chiefs, two lieutenants, and eight firefighters —were killed. This

5476-463: Was the department's greatest loss of life before the September 11 terrorist attacks . A plaque honoring the victims can be seen on Madison Green, the apartment building currently occupying the site. By the middle of the 20th century, some of the buildings in the neighborhood were half-empty, and it was widely recognized that the park needed to be restored and renovated. Efforts began in 1979 with

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