Hudson Heights, Manhattan : NYC Tourist Guide

Hudson Heights

Hudson Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located within the larger area known as Washington Heights. It is bounded to the north by Fort Tryon Park, to the west by the Hudson River, to the south by J. Hood Wright Park/173rd Street and to the east by Broadway. The name dates back at least to the 1990s, when residents of the area sought to differentiate their blocks from Washington Heights at large. As a result, some have criticized it as an especially artificial creation, but it is now in more common usage, with The New York Times typically using it to label real estate transactions that happen within its borders. Indeed, Times references to the name date back at least to 1998. Hudson Heights is home to the highest natural point in Manhattan, located in Bennett Park. It's 265 feet above sea level, or a few dozen feet lower than the torch on the Statue of Liberty. The neighborhood is mostly residential, but it also has strips of commercial activity along 187th Street and 181st. Most buildings are pre-war i.e, built in the 1930s, some in Art Deco style, most are "owner occupied residential properties". The first and largest residential complexes in the area where started by real estate developer Dr. Charles V. Paterno; Hudson View Gardens opened in 1924 and was originally started and sold as a housing cooperative, Castle Village on the other side of Cabrini Boulevard was finished in 1939 and converted to a co-op in 1985. Another large cooperative is the 16-story Cabrini Terrace , the highest building in the neighborhood. In the 1980s, most rental buildings in the area were converted to housing cooperatives or condominiums. In recent years, Hudson Heights has been an attractive area for homebuyers who want to stay in Manhattan, but can't afford to buy condos or co-ops in most other areas of the borough, or who want to buy condos or co-ops larger than those typically found in other areas. The multiple housing cooperatives and condominiums in the area have formed the Hudson Heights Owners Coalition. Among notable institutions in Hudson Heights are the Catholic shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and The Cloisters, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art houses and displays its collection of Medieval art, located in Fort Tryon Park. The area gained notoriety in May 2005 when a 75-year-old retaining wall facing the Hudson River on the property of the Castle Village co-op housing complex collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway, causing much consternation and traffic delays.

Cultural landscape and changes