The Historic Buildings of the South Street Seaport

Just in time for Archtober, the South Street Seaport Museum has added a new section to its website for you to learn about the historic architecture of the South Street Seaport from anywhere! 

The 18th- and 19th-century buildings of the South Street Seaport Historic District exist today because of the South Street Seaport Museum. In the 1960s, New York City was undergoing one of its most dramatic reinventions and the tension between urban renewal and historic preservation was center stage. After convincing the city to spare the buildings from the wrecking ball, the Museum’s founders—a group of passionate preservationists—set out to restore the area’s structures and repopulate South Street, “the Street of Ships,” with historic vessels. 

The buildings in the district span a period of almost 200 years, representing several styles of mercantile architecture including Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival, as well as the later Italianate and Romanesque Revival styles. Today, the Seaport Museum partially occupies many of the original structures that are important artifacts of New York’s history.

Learn more about each of the buildings, their fascinating histories, and how you can experience some of them first-hand in this online resource.