Did you know that beneath the exits of the Holland Tunnel lies a secret? It is a secret with a past as vibrant as the city itself. We are standing at the former site of St. John’s Park.
St. John’s Park was not always a hidden space. It was once a fashionable 19th-century park and neighborhood. Imagine townhouses lining a private square. This square was bordered by Varick Street, Laight Street, Hudson Street, and Beach Street. Today, that block is also known as Ericsson Place.
Let’s travel back to the early 1800s. Trinity Church owned this land. They envisioned an elite residential square. It was to be like London’s West End. The church built St. John’s Chapel in 1803. This was to attract buyers. They laid out Hudson Square. It was New York City’s first townhouse development around a private park.
By 1827, the neighborhood was known as St. John’s Park. It was the place to be. But this fashionable status faded around 1850. Wealthy residents began moving uptown. The Hudson River Railroad laid tracks nearby in 1851. This led even more residents to leave St. John’s Park.
In 1866, Trinity Church sold the park to Cornelius Vanderbilt. The price was one million dollars. Vanderbilt built St. John’s Park Freight Depot. It became the railroad’s southern terminus. A New York Times article noted the loss of a breathing space. However, it also mentioned that the park was only available to a few nearby residents. The article predicted the change would benefit the city.
The freight terminal transformed the area. Warehouses and industrial buildings replaced elegant homes. Decades later, St. John’s Chapel was torn down in 1918. Then in 1927, the freight depot was demolished. This made way for the Holland Tunnel exits we see today.
The inner portion of the rotary is still called St. John’s Park on maps. But it is inaccessible to the public. It is marked with “No Trespassing” signs. From 1980 to 1987, Richard Serra’s sculpture St. John’s Rotary Arc stood here. Later, from 1998 to 2006, Mark di Suvero’s Joie de Vivre was displayed.
In 2010, the AIA Guide to New York City described the space as a “circular wasteland”. It commented that our ancestors blew it here, failing to preserve a New York treasure.
So, the next time you pass through the Holland Tunnel exits, remember St. John’s Park. Think of its transformation from an exclusive residential square. Consider its time as a bustling freight depot to its current state. It is a hidden reminder of New York City’s ever-changing landscape. A landscape where even parks can disappear beneath the wheels of progress.