PODCAST What does the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea mean to you? Religion and architecture? Art galleries and gay bars? Shopping and brunch after a stroll on the High Line? Tens of thousands of people, of course, call it home.
But before it was a neighborhood, it was the Colonial-era estate — the home of a British military officer who named his bucolic property after a London veterans hospital.
His descendant Clement Clarke Moore would distinguish himself as a theologian and writer; he invented many aspects of the Christmas season in one very famous poem. But he could no longer preserve his family estate when New York civic planners (and the Commissioners Plan of 1811) came a-calling.
Moore parceled the estate into private lots in the 1820s and 30s, creating both the exclusive development Chelsea Square and the grand, beautiful General Theological Seminary.
Slowly, over the decades, this charming residential district (protected as a historic district today) would be surrounded by a wide variety of urban needs — from heavy industrial to venues of amusement. One stretch would even become “the Bowery of the West Side.”
Further change arrived in the late 20th century as blocks of tenements were replaced with housing projects and emptied warehouses became discotheques and art collectives. Then came the Big Cup.
Join us as we celebrate over 200 years of urban development — how Chelsea the estate became Chelsea the neighborhood.
LISTEN NOW: HOW CHELSEA BECAME A NEIGHBORHOOD
DESIGNATION REPORTS
Hotel Chelsea (1966)
Church of the Holy Apostles (1966)
Chelsea Historic District (1970)
Starrett-Lehigh Building (1986)
West Chelsea Historic District (2008)
Lamartine Place Historic District (2009)
147 Eighth Avenue (2009)
Photos from the General Theological Seminary. Leave your ID at the front desk and you can go on a tour of this lovely site yourself…..
A short documentary on the nightclub called Tunnel:
FURTHER LISTENING
After listening to this episode on the history of the Chelsea neighborhood, check out these past episodes with similar themes and subjects
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11 replies on “How Chelsea Became a Neighborhood: From Orchards to Nightclubs”
Another fantastic episode. I need to visit my son soon in the greatest city. Stay well:)
Years ago I had the good fortune to be invited to play golf at the beautiful Misquamicut club on the Long Island Sound coast of Rhode Island. The memory of the day is even better because I got to use the locker of Clement Clark Moore lV.
Born French hospital 1946 lived 21st 8thand9th 331left the city 1963 wish I never left great place
Loving this site. Thanks.
Thank you for this episode, it was just brilliant. I lived in Chelsea from 93-2016 until I immigrated to brooklyn. I loved the history and vibrancy of the neighborhood and miss it very much. I learned so many things by listening and will be sharing with friends and family.
Such a wonderful episode. I grew up in Chelsea in the 1960’s, and boy, was it a very different neighborhood then. It was gritty and rough, but it was home. I can still remember walking through the meatpacking district on my way to school, seeing men in chaps (is that where my fantasy of being a cowgirl came from) and learning to cross 9th avenue without getting run over by a bus! What a childhood!
Is/was Starrett Lehigh bldg the headquarters for Martha Stewart’s company?
We came in ’63. The greatest neighborhood in the world. Mixed, new clean and VERY VERY friendly. No crime, just Sun and fun. It was magnificent. I’d do all again. God bless.
I grew up in Chelsea lived there from 1976 to 1997 and I have never lived anywhere as spe I’ll as Chelsea! Best nabe in the world!
OMG! My heart feels lighter! I was born 1958 in Chelsea and lived there until 1976, but visited my dad there until he passed away in 2018. Although I’m in Queens now Chelsea is were I go to walk and think, and all my dreams are litterally in Chelsea! So happy to see this article. Alot has changed there but there’s still so much from the good ole days!! It will always be my home.
Thank you
Also my home 264 10 th ave wow was it something to brag about, but I will always consider it my home .. Miss you Chelsea!!!🫶🏼