Vesey Street (pronounced VEE-zee[1]) is a street in New York City that runs east-west in Lower Manhattan. The street is named after Rev. William Vesey (1674-1746), the first rector of nearby Trinity Church.[2]
Prior to the construction of the World Trade Center it ran as continuous street from Broadway to the Hudson River. As of 2009, it runs as four segments:
The eastern extension of the street at Broadway is Ann Street. Adjacent to Vesey Street is St. Paul's Chapel, the Church Street Station Post Office, and the World Trade Center site. The street next to the World Trade Center was closed to pedestrians after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and has not yet been reopened to vehicular traffic. A structure left standing after the collapse of the adjacent buildings is known as the Survivors' Staircase which is being preserved. In the area from Church Street to Washington Street, tourists attempt to view the ongoing construction, pending the future museum and memorial at the site. The World Trade Center PATH station is accessible from the street at the World Trade Center site.
Two parts of Vesey Street connect with an enclosed pedestrian bridge which crosses over West Street to the World Financial Center. Just past the western end of the street is the Irish Hunger Memorial. This end of the street is in the northern part of Battery Park City.
Notable buildings include the Art Nouveau Old New York Evening Post Building, and the Art Deco Barclay-Vesey Building, later the headquarters of Verizon Communications.
Vesey Street was the birthplace of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the retail group more commonly known as "A&P."