Jefferson Market Library, 8/15/21

This photo looks east on West 10th Street in the West Village. The elaborate Victorian clock tower of the Jefferson Market Library dominates the view. This plot of land has a long and fascinating history: it started out as an open-air market, Jefferson Market, and featured a courthouse and a wooden fire watchtower. These were all replaced in the mid-19th century by red-brick gothic structures meant to be more permanent (the clock tower here served as the neighborhood's new fire watchtower). The original market was later demolished to build a prison. Eventually, the courthouse closed and converted into a library; the prison was torn down, replaced by a garden.