The River Below Fifth Avenue
One of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Manhattan is the idea that streams and rivers that once flowed above ground continue to this day deep beneath our feet. In some instances, man-made canals were built to divert their path; in others, persistent rivers fought through landfill to continue on their way.
One such stream is Minetta Brook, which you can see on the Viele map, a full mark-up of the city’s streams, springs, and marshland made in 1874 and still used by engineers today.
Native Americans called it “Manette,” or Devil’s Water. Dutch settlers named it “Bestevaer’s Killetje,” or Grandfather’s Little Creek. Like many streets named after long-gone rivers and ponds (Water St and Spring St were so named because of their proximity to water), Minetta Street in the Village allegedly bends to follow the original path of Minetta Brook.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because of a really, really fantastic oddity at 2 Fifth Ave, just north of Washington Square Park.
When this building was constructed in the 1930s, this odd-looking clear-glass “fountain” was installed, which allegedly goes right down to the old brook. Apparently, when the brook is flowing heavy, water bubbles up inside.
Sadly, when I went, it was pretty dry, with dirt traces caked up along the sides. But a comment on this Minetta-related post as recent as November ’08 reports that it was filled with water. It’s raining tonight – I might stop in again tomorrow morning to see if there’s any change.
This plaque is mounted beside it:
Some say that it doesn’t actually go down to the brook; that Minetta dried up in the 1800s, and that the tube was put in as a symbolic representation of the old stream, that it was just a big publicity stunt to garner interest in the new building, that the water that comes up is due to building plumbing – but no one knows for sure. What clinches it for me is the look of the thing – I mean, if you’re going to fake it, why not do it with a bit more style than a dingy plastic tube shoved into what looks like an ash tray bin hidden behind the front desk? The dirt caking the sides looks pretty authentic as well – but you be the judge.
I’m sure this is something that every NYU kid knows about, but it’s a huge surprise for me. I’ve walked by 2 5th Avenue hundreds of times in my years living in New York and had no idea that such a cool oddity was right in the open for anyone to see.
In trying to find information on Minetta Brook, I came across an amazing site that I’m going to have to pour over when I get some time: Water Courses, a blog dedicated to lost rivers and streams in NYC. Definitely check it out to find out what you’d be swimming in if not for the pavement beneath your feet.
UPDATE!
I went back today and was amazed to find water coming right up the pipe. You can sort of see it in this picture clinging to the sides:
The water wasn’t just splashing, it was surging up in torrents. Really cool to see, and it corresponds with the rains we had last night. Definitely check it out the next time a storm passes through.
SCOUT
I work in the NYU law school and have heard that in one of the buildings – Vanderbilt Hall I think – you can see the brook through a grate in part of the basement. I haven’t seen it but this past summer there was talk of the brook coming up into I think the elevator shafts and one woman called up to try to get building access so she could bring a tour group in to see it. The tour was based entirely around the brook, following it’s path and such, but I don’t know what that group’s name was. Might be interesting to look into though.
My apartment backs on Minetta Street. The shape of the apartment, like the street, follows the curving path of the brook. When we have heavy rains, the basement floods, sometimes dramatically, and we think this is the brook rising.
I remember reading in a biography of Jimi Hendrix that while he was constructing his Electric Lady studios in a basement in 1970, the work had to be put off for weeks when construction crews his Minetta Brook and flooded the foundations of the building that houses Electric Lady.
Some people say that being built right on top of Minetta Brook gives Electric Lady Studio A a weird, unique resonance.
Scout, I am the Nov 08 commenter that you referenced above when you linked to the other Minetta-related post. I can send you my picture if you like!
This is just amazing! Thanks for the find.
When I worked at Fairchild Publishing on East 11th Street in the 80s, the Purchasing Manager took me on a tour of the sub-basement where a stream flowed across the dirt and concrete floor. It could become a torrent at times of heavy rain. Very spooky place!
The Minetta Brook also runs directly under the stage at the Minetta Lane Theater. The laundry room was located under the stage when I took a wardrobe job there a few years back, and it was the creepiest place in the world. The room was accessible by opening a trap door in the stage and climbing down a seven foot ladder. I couldn’t open the trap door from below, and people were always closing it behind me because they feared someone falling through the hole. The floor under the stage was dirt, liberally interspersed with large puddles. In addition, the clothes drier had a habit of blowing fuses, thereby killing the lights, and as I was usually the last one working, I’d have to find my way by touch to the “emergency exit”, which was a small gap in the two by fours that supported the front of the stage, just big enough to crawl through if you were feeling bendy. One night, it rained and a fuse blew and I found myself in pitch darkness with my arms wet to my elbows in a sink full of soapy water, and my ankles equally wet in six inches of mud.
Here’s one for you to investigate: I was working on a film a few years ago in the East Village. We shot a scene in front of the yellow church on the SE c/o Avenue B and East 8th Street. At the time, the priest told me the church was on course to being condemned for structural reasons. He was right – that church has been boarded up for a while now. He told me about a creek that runs beneath the church that is visible through holes in the sub-basement floor. I was interested but never got around to checking it out for myself. Missed opportunity.
A few years of a late comment, but reading this post made me think of the basement of a building right behind this church, and your comment rings true- if you’re walking down East 8th Street, there’s a lot behind the church, and the next building has this gate at the front corner of it that opens up to a sort of basement level. I noticed it because I was walking past one day after it rained and noticed how much water I could hear from somewhere and then saw a ton of it rushing around down there.
Even though I grew up about a 20 minute walk from Wash Sq Pk, when I started at NYU I took a paid tour of the Village. I was fascinated to see that tube in the lobby (the doorman said he saw water in it frequently). Other strong memories were the Hanging Tree in the NW corner of the park (creepy) and hearing about the Judson dance performance in the 1960s where a dancer finished a performance by dancing right out an open window to their death (yikes!). What a tour! I had no idea! Great post as always. Thanks.
i live around the corner on MacDougal. Some days you can still smell the water from the brook, and it smells…
its like a ghost brook.
yeah! I lived on washington place and sixth avenue and in my basement we have a grate that goes over minetta stream. I don’t know anymore but when I was younger you could see water flowing under it.
I wonder why it is “Devil’s Water”? I guess Ken MC’s above comment sheds light on it. Stinky water.
As for Alphabet City, it is built on salt marshes, which is why most of the community is in the Flood A Zone. Several Weeping Willows, which love water, live in community gardens across the area.
A friend and I went to see this yesterday and it was gone! We asked the doorman if it was gone for good. He said they were just cleaning the tube, but then he told us that it was completely fake and the whole thing was driven by a pump! What a disappointment! He said it had been further into the lobby years ago (before his time) and maybe that was real? Whether the pump pushes up actual Minetta water is unknown. 🙁
Other day I saw in a National Geographic film that most of cities are on fault lines and along these lines there are under ground rivers.They talked about under ground river in desert of Iran.Easy availability of water was the reason cities are there.Well NY is not such a case but underground brook story is incredible.Lot of things are hiding from humanity for the fear of extinction.We do enjoy a abominable reputation as species by now.Water probably found its own ways to avoid an end.
My grandmother used to have a suite of drawings in the lobby of 2 Fifth Avenue. Wonder if they’re still there.
I found this very interesting. In the early eighties I was producing a record at Electric Lady Studios, which was started by Jimi Hendrix, on 8th Street between 6th and 5th Aves.and which is still there. One day the engineer asked me if I wanted to see the river in the basement. To my amazement we went downstairs and he opened a trap door and sure enough, there was the river, rushing by. Maybe it gave Jimi the idea for his song Waterfall.
They have a few of these in London. Just found one where you can see the a tributary stream of one of the hidden rivers.
http://www.graysantiques.com/tyburn_river.php
Just wanted to add a status update as of December 29, 2012:
As Carrie mentioned about a year ago, sadly the tube/fountain thingie in the photo has been removed — it’s still gone and only the pedestal and the placque remain. The placque can be seen from outside the building (it’s behind a shrubbery right up against the glass) but we didn’t spot it at first and went inside to talk to the doorman. He was very kindly & explained they’d removed the fountain/tube thing during some renovations and didn’t anticipate it was going to be put back.
I found this…
http://untappedcities.com/2012/07/24/minetta-brook-a-lost-river-under-the-streets-of-manhattan/
Not too exciting, but now that there is no chance of sleep for the night since i stumbled on your site, i might as well keep on going! 🙂 Thank you!
Here’s a youtube video of the fountain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0bBbaQf98k
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Interesting! This must be the “devil’s water” that Dave Grohl refers to in the new Foo Fighters song “I Am a River,” which was recorded in and inspired by NYC. Really cool.
The “River” under two Fifth Avenue [allegedly Minneta Brook] does not exist. I am a long-time resident of Two Fifth Avenue and considered by many residents to be the “historian” of Two Fifth Avenue. (We consider Dr. Emily Kies Folpe (Ph,D. in Art Hostory, Author: IT HAPPENED ON WASHINGTON SQUARE) as our Washington Square historian,] That section of Minetta Brook which ONCE flowed at the site where Two Fifth Avenue is now was long-ago dried up for construction purposes; Two Fifth Avenue was built from 1949-51,, NOT during the 30’s as NY Scout INCORRECTLY states, The ornamental fountain COMMERATING Minetta Brook which is now outside the lobby is decorative and when operative was fed by NYC tap water, NOT Minetta Brook. Visitors and tourists enjoy the romance of a “river” flowing below the building,
Romance aside, Two Fifth Avenue is still worth a pass-by for visitors and tourists to view the two plaques on the outside of the building which honor long-time residents three-term former Mayor of The City of New York Edward I. Koch and former US Congresswoman Bella Abzug, both now decreased.
Still in residence are Tony Award winning Playwright Larry Kramer and Edith Windsor [United States vs. Windsor]
Ms. Windsor is the plaintiff whose winning petition before the US Supreme Court for equal protection under the law essentially ended the US Defense of Marriage Act which had held that marriage was only between a man and a woman; the Windsor decision set the stage for marriage equality, now a reality in 36 of the sovereign states in the United States; Ms. Windsor is now 85 years old; we hope her expected plaque on Two Fifth Avenue will not be placed for many more years.
Dr. Gil – “Historian”
Two Fifth Avenue
New York, New York
The New York Times this past Sunday in the Metropolitan section had an article about an underground stream causing issues with a home renovation (cellar expansion) on 76th Street at the Central Park West area. Home is owned by daughter of Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D, Rockland, Westchester Counties). GREAT SITE!
Hi:
I read about this lobby and its glass pipe in a new book, Hidden Waters of New York City. I love the idea of this sight-tube keeping tabs on the buried Minetta Brook, but as an engineer, I had to wonder how the water could be forced so high up in the tube without seeing water on the streets around? An artesian well? I don’t think so… Unless the lobby is very far below the level of the street, I am not convinced by it.