Editing Chelsea, Manhattan (section)

===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>