Chatham Street and Brick Presbyterian Church

View with the rear of the old Brick Presbyterian Church and St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, seen from the stone-paved junction of Chatham Street (now Park Row) and Nassau Street (left), looking south toward Broadway.

Watercolor, black ink, and graphite on paper by Scottish born Archibald Robertson (1765-1835), drawn in 1798. Source: New-York Historical Society.

In the mid-18th century, this was part of the old Post-Road to Boston. This street was officially named Chatham Street in 1774 and officially renamed Park Row in 1886, although it had been called that much earlier. The fenced area on the right was the Common, later City Hall Park. The new City Hall was constructed in the place in the early 19th century.

The Brick Presbyterian Church faced Beekman Street> It was erected between 1766 and 1768, and demolished in 1856. St. Paul's Chapel, built in 1766 and with a steeple added in 1794, is the oldest church edifice standing in New York City. George Washington walked to St. Paul's Chapel to pray after his inauguration as president in 1789.

More: Park Row in 19th Century ►

The steeple on the left is that of Trinity Church. The pediment of the Park Theatre can just be discerned to the right of the Brick Church. The large house across Vesey Street from St. Paul’s was, at this time, the residence of Walter Rutherfurd.

The area in the foreground was renamed City Hall Square in 1848 and became the Printing House Square before the early 1859.