SoHo

SoHo — South of Houston — spent the nineteenth century as a manufacturing district and the mid-twentieth as a decaying one, nicknamed Hell's Hundred Acres for its fire risk and slated at one point for demolition to make way for an expressway. What saved it was the artists who began occupying its empty lofts illegally in the 1960s, drawn by vast floorplates and cheap rent; New York's 1971 Loft Law legalized their tenancy, and the historic district designation of 1973 protected what is now recognized as the largest collection of full and partial cast-iron facades in the world. The housing that resulted is genuinely singular: converted lofts with twelve- to fourteen-foot ceilings, oversized windows, and open spans that no new construction reproduces. Buyers should understand that some buildings retain Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists restrictions dating to the loft era, which affects who may legally occupy them — a nuance worth raising with an attorney early. Green space is limited to small squares like Petrosino, with Hudson River Park a short walk west. The retail is global flagship territory and the sidewalks are crowded on weekends, but the residential blocks east of West Broadway are quieter than visitors expect, and the dining — Balthazar, Raoul's, Emilio's Ballato — has held its standing for decades.