Coenties Slip

In 2003, Gerard Wolfe reported the pronunciation of Coenties to be and in 2023 Jackson Arn reported it as (“co-en-tees”). Earlier reports include (1896), (1917), and (1908). == History ==

Although surrounded by skyscrapers, a row of buildings from the 19th century still stands along the block that is open to vehicles. These buildings are in active use by small businesses. The blocks between Water Street and Front Street, and between Front Street and South Street, were removed to make way for these high rise buildings. Part of 55 Water Street and part of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza are built on land that was once part of Coenties Slip. Both Coenties Slip and Coenties Alley are named after Conraet Ten Eyck and his wife Antje. Arthur Bartlett Maurice describes Coenties Slip in the 1935 book Magical City: “At the head of the Slip, where the Elevated road winds its way along Pearl Street on its way from South Ferry to Hanover Square, stood the Stadt Huys of Dutch days, the first City Hall on Manhattan Island. After the Erie Canal was finished in 1825, the slip, then only a tiny corner of what it is today, harbored many of the canal boats." In 2010, the Downtown Alliance proposed upgrades to Coenties Slip and Whitehall Street plazas. However, a $23 million permanent upgrade stalled, due to a lack of funding. In 2018, the New York City Department of Transportation announced permanent upgrades as part of the Water Street upgrade project. == Coenties Alley ==

Coenties Alley, formerly City Hall Lane, is an historic pedestrian walkway that leads inland from Coenties Slip. The alley runs south from South William Street to Pearl Street, and is the cut-off for Stone Street's discontinuity. == Artists of Coenties Slip ==

For a time in the mid-20th century, Coenties Slip also was the home for a group of ground-breaking American artists. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the artists Chryssa, James Rosenquist, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Lenore Tawney, Ann Wilson, Fred Mitchell, Jack Youngerman and French actress Delphine Seyrig lived in this Lower Manhattan location overlooking the East River. These artists were among a group of intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and poets who lived and worked in Coenties Slip. ==References==