Editing Chelsea, Manhattan (section)

==History==

===Early development===
[[File:Chelsea mansion house crop.jpg|thumb|left|"Chelsea", drawn by a daughter of [[Clement Clarke Moore]]]]
Chelsea takes its name from the estate and [[Georgian architecture|Georgian-style]] house of retired British Major Thomas Clarke, who obtained the property when he bought the farm of Jacob Somerindyck on August 16, 1750. The land was bounded by what would become 21st and 24th Streets, from the Hudson River to Eighth Avenue.<ref name=encnyc /> Clarke chose the name "Chelsea" after the [[Royal Hospital Chelsea]] in London.<ref name=NYCParks>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/clement-clarke-moore-park/history Clement Clarke Moore Park] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016193412/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/clement-clarke-moore-park/history |date=October 16, 2016 }}, [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]. Accessed August 8, 2024. "A retired British Army officer, Captain Clarke named his property 'Chelsea' after London's Royal Chelsea Hospital for veterans."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Janvier |first1=Thomas Allibone |author-link1=Thomas Allibone Janvier |title=In Old New York |date=1894 |publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/inoldnewyork00janvgoog/page/n195 167]–9 |url=https://archive.org/details/inoldnewyork00janvgoog}}</ref> Clarke passed the estate on to his daughter, Charity, who, with her husband [[Benjamin Moore (bishop)|Benjamin Moore]], added land on the south of the estate, extending it to 19th Street.<ref name=encnyc /> The house was the birthplace of their son, [[Clement Clarke Moore]], who in turn inherited the property. Moore is generally credited with writing "[[A Visit From St. Nicholas]]" and was the author of the first Greek and Hebrew [[lexicon]]s printed in the United States.

In 1827, Moore gave the land of his apple orchard to the [[Episcopal Diocese of New York]] for the [[General Theological Seminary]], which built its brownstone Gothic, tree-shaded campus south of the manor house. Despite his objections to the [[Commissioner's Plan of 1811]], which ran the new [[Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)|Ninth Avenue]] through the middle of his estate, Moore began the development of Chelsea with the help of [[James N. Wells]], dividing it up into lots along Ninth Avenue and selling them to well-heeled New Yorkers.<ref>Burrows & Wallace, p.447</ref> [[Covenant (law)|Covenants]] in the deeds of sale specified what could be built on the land&nbsp;– stables, manufacturing and commercial uses were forbidden&nbsp;– as well as architectural details of the buildings.<ref name=encnyc /> In 1829, Moore leased one of the lots to Hugh Walker who constructed what is now the [[404 West 20th Street|oldest standing house in Chelsea]], completed in 1830.<ref>McGeehan, Patrick. [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/nyregion/chelsea-real-estate-.html "When the Real Estate Mogul Tried to Supersize His $8 Million Brownstone"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 7, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2024. "A local community board had tried in vain to stop a similar expansion just seven doors away, in a home that is considered the oldest dwelling in Chelsea.... The plan for renovating the neighborhood's oldest house, at 404 West 20th Street, sparked an even bigger outcry.... The house, which has a brick front wall and about 4,000 square feet of living space, was built in 1830 on a lot leased from Mr. Moore."</ref>

===Industrialization and entertainment district===
The new neighborhood thrived for three decades, with many single family homes and rowhouses, in the process expanding past the original boundaries of Clarke's estate, but an industrial zone also began to develop along the Hudson.<ref name=encnyc /> In 1847 the [[West Side Line|Hudson River Railroad]] laid its freight tracks up a [[right-of-way (railroad)|right-of-way]] between Tenth and [[Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Eleventh Avenues]], separating Chelsea from the [[Hudson River]] waterfront. By the time of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the area west of Ninth Avenue and below 20th Street was the location of numerous distilleries making [[turpentine]] and [[camphene]], a lamp fuel. In addition, the huge Manhattan Gas Works complex, which converted [[bituminous coal]] into [[town gas|gas]], was located at Ninth Avenue and 18th Street.<ref>Johnson, Clint. "A Vast and Fiendish Plot" ''New York Archive'' (Winter 2012)</ref>

The industrialization of western Chelsea brought immigrant populations from many countries to work in the factories,<ref name=fednyc /> including a large number of [[Irish-Americans|Irish]] immigrants, who dominated work on the Hudson River piers that lined the nearby waterfront and the truck terminals integrated with the freight railroad spur.{{efn|The film ''[[On the Waterfront]]'' (1954) recreates this tough world, dramatized in [[Richard Rodgers]]' 1936 jazz ballet ''[[Slaughter on Tenth Avenue]]''.}} As well as the piers, warehouses and factories, the industrial area west of Tenth Avenue also included lumberyards and breweries, and tenements built to house the workers. With the immigrant population came the political domination of the neighborhood by the [[Tammany Hall]] [[political machine|machine]],<ref name=fednyc /> as well as festering ethnic tensions: around 67 people died in a [[Orange Riots|riot between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants on July 12, 1871]], which took place around 24th Street and Eighth Avenue.<ref name=encnyc /><ref>Burrows & Wallace, pp.1003–1008</ref> The social problems of the area's workers provoked [[John Lovejoy Elliot]] to form the [[Hudson Guild]] in 1897, one of the first [[settlement house]]s&nbsp;– private organizations designed to provide social services.

A theater district had formed in the area by 1869,<ref name="encnyc" /> and soon West [[23rd Street (Manhattan)|23rd Street]] was the center of American theater, led by [[Pike's Opera House]] (1868, demolished 1960), on the northwest corner of Eighth Avenue. Chelsea was a busy entertainment district between about 1875 and 1900. Sixth Avenue contained the [[Ladies' Mile Historic District|Ladies' Mile]] shopping district; music publishers opened offices in [[Tin Pan Alley]] along 28th Street; and the [[Tenderloin, Manhattan|Tenderloin]] red-light district occupied the northern section of Chelsea.<ref name="nyt-1987-10-16">{{Cite news |last=Yarrow |first=Andrew L. |date=October 16, 1987 |title=Chelsea: Where the Avant-garde Rubs Shoulders With Old New York |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/16/arts/chelsea-where-the-avant-garde-rubs-shoulders-with-old-new-york.html |access-date=April 8, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Early and mid-20th centuries===
[[File:London_Terrace_NY1.jpg|thumb|[[London Terrace]] occupies the entire block bounded [[Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)|Ninth]] and [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Tenth]] Avenues and 23rd and [[24th Street (Manhattan)|24th Streets]].]]
The neighborhood was an early center for the motion picture industry before World War I. Some of [[Mary Pickford]]'s first pictures were made on the top floors of an armory building at 221 [[26th Street (Manhattan)|West 26th Street]], while other studios were located on 23rd and 21st Streets.<ref name=fednyc>{{cite fednyc}}, pp. 151–155</ref>

To accommodate high freight and industrial demand, several railroads had built [[Rail freight transport|rail freight]] terminals on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River,<ref name="NYCL-1295">{{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1295.pdf |title=Starrett-Lehigh Building |date=October 7, 1986 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |access-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220192221/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1295.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|pages=2–3}} and many freight terminals and warehouses were built in the western part of Chelsea by the late 19th century.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=5}} The first of these was the Central Stores, constructed at 11th Avenue between 27th and 28th Streets in 1891.<ref name="NYCL-1295" />{{rp|pages=2–3}} This was followed in 1900 by the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]]'s terminal between 26th and 27th Streets, as well as the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]]'s terminal immediately to the south, completed in the early 1910s.<ref name="NYCL-1295" />{{rp|pages=2–3}}<ref name="nyt-1939-12-10">{{Cite news |last=Cooper |first=Lee E. |date=December 10, 1939 |title=New Era in Sight for Eleventh Ave.; a 'new' Eleventh Avenue Emerges as Work Nears Completion on Street and Railroad Improvements |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/12/10/archives/new-era-in-sight-for-eleventh-ave-a-new-eleventh-avenue-emerges-as.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329181317/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/12/10/archives/new-era-in-sight-for-eleventh-ave-a-new-eleventh-avenue-emerges-as.html |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Freight operations on Manhattan's far west side were improved when the elevated [[High Line|West Side Freight Line]] and the [[West Side Elevated Highway]] were built in the 1930s, replacing a surface-level railroad and roadway.<ref name="NYCL-1295" />{{rp|pages=2–3}}

[[London Terrace]] was one of the world's largest apartment blocks when it opened in 1930, with a swimming pool, [[wikt:solarium|solarium]], gymnasium, and doormen dressed as London bobbies. Other major housing complexes in the Chelsea area are [[Penn South]], a 1962 [[cooperative apartment|cooperative housing development]] sponsored by the [[International Ladies Garment Workers' Union]], and the [[New York City Housing Authority]]-built and -operated [[Fulton Houses]] and [[Chelsea-Elliot Houses]].

The 23-story [[Art Deco]] Walker Building, which spans the block between 17th and 18th Streets just off of [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]], was built in the early 1930s. That structure was converted in 2012 to residential apartments on the top 16 floors, with Verizon retaining the lower seven floors.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/realestate/chelsea-posting-verizon-offices-remade-into-luxury-condos.html |title=Dial C for Condos |website=The New York Times |date=March 8, 2012 |last=Hughes |first=C. J. |quote=One of those Verizon buildings, a 1929 tan-brick Art Deco high-rise at 212 West 18th Street in Chelsea, is being converted into luxury condominiums. The 53-unit project is called Walker Tower for its architect, Ralph Walker, who also designed several other phone company buildings.... Verizon owns Floors 2 through 7, which contain offices for about a dozen employees who will come to work through a West 17th Street entryway. Mr. Stern owns the condo that encompasses Floors 8 through 23. |access-date=October 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309012534/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/realestate/chelsea-posting-verizon-offices-remade-into-luxury-condos.html |archive-date=March 9, 2012}}</ref> In the early 1940s, tons of [[uranium]] for the [[Manhattan Project]] were stored in the Baker & Williams Warehouse at 513–519 West 20th Street. The uranium was removed and a decontamination project at the site was completed during the early 1990s.<ref>Broad, William J. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30manh.html?pagewanted=all "Why They Called It the Manhattan Project"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518205859/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30manh.html?pagewanted=all |date=May 18, 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', October 30, 2007. Accessed October 23, 2015. "After lunch, we headed to West 20th Street just off the West Side Highway.... On its north side, three tall buildings once made up the Baker and Williams Warehouses, which held tons of uranium.... Dr. Norris's 'Traveler's Guide' fact sheet said the federal government in the late 1980s and early 1990s cleaned the buildings of residual uranium."</ref> By the mid-20th century, the western part of Chelsea had various types of light manufacturing businesses. According to the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]], these ranged "from printing shops and box companies, to milk-bottling plants and electrical wire and cable manufacturers".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=23}}

=== Late 20th century to present ===
The industrial character of West Chelsea declined in the 1960s and 1970s, as industries started to relocate from Manhattan.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=24}} In subsequent years, the area's redevelopment was concentrated around West Chelsea,<ref name="nyt-2018-02-14">{{Cite news |last=Jacobson |first=Aileen |date=February 14, 2018 |title=East Chelsea, Manhattan: Once Industrial, Now Residential |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/realestate/living-in-east-chelsea-manhattan.html |access-date=April 8, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and some of the old industrial structures were converted to nightclubs.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=24}}<ref name="nyt-1987-10-16" /> These included Les Mouches (housed in a former [[Otis Worldwide|Otis Elevator Company]] factory) and [[Tunnel (New York nightclub)|the Tunnel]] (housed in the Central Stores building on 11th Avenue).<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=24}} Many LGBTQ people started moving to Chelsea in the mid-1980s, and upscale restaurants and stores began opening in the neighborhood around the same time.<ref name="nyt-2000-04-16">{{Cite news |last=Malbin |first=Peter |date=April 16, 2000 |title=If You're Thinking of Living In/Chelsea; Strikingly Changed, But Still Diverse |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/16/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-of-living-in-chelsea-strikingly-changed-but-still-diverse.html |access-date=April 8, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By then, the neighborhood also contained some of New York City's "cutting-edge theaters and performance spaces" according to ''The New York Times''.<ref name="nyt-1987-10-16" /> By the late 1990s, West Chelsea had also begun to attract visual-arts galleries that had relocated from [[SoHo]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=25}}<ref name=":1" />

On September 17, 2016, there was [[2016 New York and New Jersey bombings|an explosion]] outside a building on 23rd Street, which injured 29 people; police located and removed a second, undetonated [[pressure cooker bomb]] on 27th Street.<ref>{{cite news |last=Simon |first=Mallory |title=New York explosion leaves dozens injured |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/new-york-explosion/ |publisher=CNN |date=September 17, 2016 |access-date=September 17, 2016 |archive-date=September 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918160112/http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/new-york-explosion/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Rick |last1=Schapiro |first2=Edgar |last2=Sandoval |first3=Nicole |last3=Hensley |first4=Ginger Adams |last4=Otis |first5=Rocco |last5=Parascandola |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/blast-rips-chelsea-street-started-running-article-1.2796382 |title=Explosive fireball erupts from dumpster on Chelsea street injuring 29, secondary pressure cooking device found blocks away |work=The New York Daily News |date=September 18, 2016 |access-date=September 18, 2016 |archive-date=October 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031235737/http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/blast-rips-chelsea-street-started-running-article-1.2796382 |url-status=live }}</ref> A suspect, [[2016 New York and New Jersey bombings#Suspect|Ahmad Khan Rahami]], was captured two days later after a gunfight in [[Linden, New Jersey]].<ref>Santora, Marc; Rashbaum, William K.; Baker, Al; and Goldman, Adam. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/nyregion/nyc-nj-explosions-ahmad-khan-rahami.html "Ahmad Khan Rahami Is Arrested in Manhattan and New Jersey Bombings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919124409/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/nyregion/nyc-nj-explosions-ahmad-khan-rahami.html |date=September 19, 2016 }}, ''The New York Times'', September 19, 2016. Accessed September 19, 2016. "The man who the police said sowed terror across two states, setting off bombs in Manhattan and on the Jersey Shore and touching off a furious manhunt, was tracked down on Monday morning sleeping in the dank doorway of a neighborhood bar and taken into custody after being wounded in a gun battle with officers. The frenzied end came on a rain-soaked street in Linden, N.J., four hours after the police issued an unprecedented cellphone alert to millions of people in the area telling them to be on the lookout for Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, who was described as 'armed and dangerous.'"</ref>

By the late 2010s, the eastern part of Chelsea, which had once been largely industrial, had also attracted upscale residential development.<ref name="nyt-2018-02-14" />