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Union Square Review
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Union Square
- Address: E. 14th to E. 17th Sts., between Broadway and Park Ave. S., Flatiron District, New York, NY | Map It
- Category: Squares
- Location: Union Square
Fodor's Review:
A park, farmers' market, meeting place, and site of rallies and demonstrations, this pocket of green space sits in the center of a bustling residential and commercial neighborhood. The name "Union" originally signified that two main roads -- Broadway and 4th Avenue -- crossed here, but it took on a different meaning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the square became a rallying spot for labor protests; many unions, as well as fringe political parties, moved their headquarters nearby. Since 9/11, antiwar groups have led their public campaigns here. Statues in the park include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the Marquis de Lafayette sculpted by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty. Plaques in the sidewalk on the southeast and southwest sides chronicle the park's history from the 1600s to 1800s.
Union Square is at its best on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (8-6), when the largest of the city's greenmarkets brings farmers and food purveyors from the tristate area. Browse the stands of fruit and vegetables, flowers, plants, fresh-baked pies and breads, cheeses, cider, New York State wines, fish, and meat. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, artisans sell unique gift items in candy-cane striped booths at the square's southwest end.
On the north end, the park's 1932 pavilion is flanked by playgrounds and Luna Park (1 Union Sq. E. 212/475-8464), an alfresco restaurant open from June through October.
New York University dormitories, theaters, and cavernous commercial spaces occupy the handsomely restored 19th-century commercial buildings that surround the park. The run of diverse architectural styles on the building at 33 Union Square West, the Decker Building, are as imaginative as its former contents: this was once home to Andy Warhol's studio. The redbrick-and-white-stone Century Building (33 E. 17th St.), built in 1881, on the square's north side, is now a Barnes & Noble bookstore, with original cast-iron columns. The building at 17th Street and Union Square East, now housing the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theatrer, was the final home of Tammany Hall, an organization famous in its day as a corrupt and powerful political machine. Two blocks south at Union Square East and 15th Street is the former U.S. Savings Bank, now the Daryl Roth Theatre.
- Metro: N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6 or L to Union Sq./14th St.
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