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SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores. The area's history is an archetypal example of inner-city regeneration and gentrification, encompassing socio-economic, cultural, political and architectural developments.
Almost all of SoHo is included in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, which was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1973, extended in 2010, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. It consists of 26 blocks and approximately 500 buildings, many of them incorporating cast iron architectural elements. The side streets in the district are notable for being paved with Belgian blocks.
The name SoHo refers to the area being "SOuth of HOuston (Street)". This naming convention has become a model for the names of new and emerging neighborhoods in New York such as NoHo, for "NOrth of HOuston Street", TriBeCa ("TRIangle BElow CAnal Street"), Nolita ("NOrth of Little ITAly"), NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square"), and DUMBO ("District Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass").
SoHo as a specifically-zoned neighborhood is bounded roughly by Houston Street on the northern side, Lafayette Street and Centre Street on the east, Canal Street on the south, and West Broadway on the west.
Nearby neighborhoods include:
The SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District is contained within the zoned SoHo neighborhood. Originally ending in the west at the eastern side of West Broadway and to the east at the western side of Crosby Street, the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District was expanded in 2010 to cover most of West Broadway and to extend east to Lafayette and Centre Streets. The boundary lines are not straight, and some block-fronts on West Broadway and Lafayette are excluded from the District. Although the SoHo Alliance, Manhattan Community Board 2 and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) all agree that the western boundary of SoHo north of Broome Street ends at West Broadway, some have claimed that the current understanding of the neighborhood extends west to the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), an area that has traditionally been considered part of the South Village, which does not share the same zoning and lacks the cast-iron architecture that characterizes SoHo. More recently, some realtors have claimed, without evidence, that SoHo extends west to the Hudson River, including the industrial area called the "Printing District" or, more recently, "Hudson Square" or "West SoHo".I
n the early 19th century, what was to become SoHo was an area of some farms, rolling hills, streams, and even a swamp at its southern end, with Federal- and Greek-Revival-style housing. By mid-19th century, these were replaced by more-solid structures of masonry and cast iron. It was a lively theater and shopping district, and even home to many brothels. As the center of the city moved uptown, the quality of the area declined, and became known as Hell's Hundred Acres because of the many fires in the area, an "industrial wasteland", full of sweatshops and small factories in the daytime, empty at night.
SoHo boasts the greatest collection of cast-iron architecture in the world. Approximately 250 cast iron buildings stand in New York City and the majority of them are in SoHo. Cast iron was initially used as a decorative front over a pre-existing building. With the addition of modern, decorative facades, older industrial buildings were able to attract new commercial clients. Most of these facades were constructed during the period from 1840 to 1880. In addition to revitalizing older structures, buildings in SoHo were later designed to feature the cast iron.
An American architectural innovation, cast iron was cheaper to use for facades than materials such as stone or brick. Molds of ornamentation, prefabricated in foundries, were used interchangeably for many buildings, and a broken piece could be easily recast. The buildings could be erected quickly; some were built in four months. Despite the brief construction period, the quality of the cast iron designs was not sacrificed. Bronze had previously been the metal most frequently used for architectural detail. Architects found that the relatively inexpensive cast iron could provide intricately designed patterns. Classical French and Italian architectural designs were often used as models for these facades. Because stone was the material associated with architectural masterpieces, cast iron, painted in neutral tints such as beige, was used to simulate stone.
There was a profusion of cast iron foundries in New York, including Badger's Architectural Iron Works, James L. Jackson's Iron Works, and Cornell Iron Works.
Since the iron was pliable and easily molded, sumptuously curved window frames were created, and the strength of the metal allowed these frames considerable height. The once-somber, gas-lit interiors of the industrial district were flooded with sunlight through the enlarged windows. The strength of cast iron permitted high ceilings with sleek supporting columns, and interiors became expansive and functional.
During cast iron's heyday, many architects thought it to be structurally more sound than steel. It was also thought that cast iron would be fire-resistant, and facades were constructed over many interiors built of wood and other flammable materials. When exposed to heat, cast iron buckled, and later cracked under the cold water used to extinguish fire. In 1899, a building code mandating that the backing of cast iron fronts with masonry was passed. Most of the buildings that stand today are constructed in this way. It was the advent of steel as a major construction material that brought an end to the cast iron era.
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