From Bryant Park we head south toward Madison Square with a few of New York's iconic buildings, like the Empire State building and the Flatiron building and then continue to Washington Square Park at the southernmost perimeter of our visit to Manhattan. As we are in a very interesting area of the City here, there is a large amount of interesting information below, but please feel free to skip it if it appears too long.

MADISON SQUARE PARK:
Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street. The square was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The focus of the square is Madison Square Park, a 6.2-acre (2.5-hectare) public park, bounded by Madison Avenue, 23rd Street, 26th Street and by Fifth Avenue and Broadway as they cross. The park and the square are at the northern (uptown) end of the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan. The neighborhood to the north and west of the park is NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park") and to the north and east is Rose Hill. Madison Square is probably best known around the world for providing the name of Madison Square Garden, a sports arena and its successor which were located just northeast of the park for 47 years, until 1925. The current Madison Square Garden, the fourth such building, is not in the area. Notable buildings around Madison Square include the Flatiron Building, the Toy Center, the New York Life Building, the New York Merchandise Mart, the Appellate Division Courthouse, the Met Life Tower, and One Madison Park, a 50-story condominium tower.
The area where Madison Square is now had been a swampy hunting ground crossed by Cedar Creek from east to west, and first came into use as a public space in 1686. It was a Potter's Field in the 1700s. In 1807, "The Parade", a tract of about 240 acres (97 hectares) from 23rd to 34th Streets and Third to Seventh Avenues, was set aside for use as an arsenal, a barracks, and a drilling area. There was a United States Army arsenal there from 1811 until 1825 when it became the New York House of Refuge for the Society for the Protection of Juvenile Delinquents, for children under sixteen committed by the courts for indefinite periods. In 1839 the building was destroyed by fire. The size of the tract was reduced in 1814 to 90 acres (36 hectares), and it received its current name.
In 1839, a farmhouse located at what is now Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street was turned into a roadhouse, it was the last stop for people traveling northward out of the city, or the first stop for those arriving from the north; visitors were encouraged not to sleep more than five to a bed. Though Madison Cottage itself was razed in 1852, it ultimately gave rise to the names for the adjacent avenue (Madison Avenue) and park, which are therefore only indirectly named after President James Madison.
On May 10, 1847, Madison Square Park opened to the public. Within a few years, the tide of residential development, which was relentlessly moving uptown, had reached the Madison Square area. Initially, the houses around the park were narrow, crowded and dark brownstone rowhouses with small rooms. Despite this beginning, through the 1870s, the neighborhood became an aristocratic one of brownstone row houses and mansions where the elite of the city lived; Theodore Roosevelt, Edith Wharton and Winston Churchill's mother, Jennie Jerome, were all born here.

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING:
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. It was built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970; following its collapse in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the city's tallest skyscraper until 2012.
The site of the Empire State Building, in Midtown South on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets, was developed in 1893 as the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel. In 1929, Empire State Inc. acquired the site and devised plans for a skyscraper there. The design for the Empire State Building was changed fifteen times until it was ensured to be the world's tallest building. Construction started on March 17, 1930, and the building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931. Despite favorable publicity related to the building's construction, because of the Great Depression and World War II, its owners did not make a profit until the early 1950s.
The building's Art Deco architecture, height, and observation decks have made it a popular attraction. Around 4 million tourists from around the world annually visit the building's 86th and 102nd floor observatories; an additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019. The Empire State Building is an American cultural icon: it has been featured in more than 250 TV shows and movies since the film King Kong was released in 1933. The building's size has also become a global standard of reference for the height and length of other structures. A symbol of New York City, the building has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It was ranked first on the American Institute of Architects' List of America's Favorite Architecture in 2007. Additionally, the Empire State Building and its ground-floor interior were designated city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1980, and were added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

FLATIRON BUILDING:
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot-tall (87 m) steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan. It was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its 1902 completion, at 20 floors high, and one of only two "skyscrapers" north of 14th Street – the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street – where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located – with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.
The building, which has been called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City", anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City. The Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK:
Washington Square Park is a 9.75-acre (39,500 m²) public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. It is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks).
The park is an open space, dominated by the Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park, with a tradition of celebrating nonconformity. The park's fountain area has long been one of the city's popular spots for residents and tourists. Most of the buildings surrounding the park now belong to New York University, but many have at one time served as homes and studios for artists. Some of the buildings have been built by NYU while others have been converted from their former uses into academic and residential buildings.
While the park contains many flower beds and trees, little of the park is used for plantings due to the paving. The two prominent features are the Washington Square Arch and a large fountain. It includes children's play areas, trees and gardens, paths to stroll on, a chess and scrabble playing area, park benches, picnic tables, commemorative statuary and two dog runs. Those commemorated by statues and monuments include George Washington; Italian patriot and soldier Giuseppe Garibaldi, commander of the insurrectionist forces in Italy's struggle for unification; and Alexander Lyman Holley, a talented engineer who helped start the American steel industry after the invention of the Bessemer process for mass-producing steel.
Creation of Washington Square: In 1826, the city bought the land west of Minetta Creek, the square was laid out and leveled, and it was turned into the Washington Military Parade Ground. Military parade grounds were public spaces specified by the city where volunteer militia companies responsible for the nation's defense would train. The streets surrounding the square became one of the city's most desirable residential areas in the 1830s. The protected row of Greek Revival style houses on the north side of the park remains from that time. In 1849 and 1850, the parade ground was reworked into the first park on the site. More paths were added and a new fence was built around it. In 1871, it came under the control of the newly formed New York City Department of Parks, and was redesigned again, with curving rather than straight secondary paths.
Construction of the arch: In 1889, to celebrate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration as president of the United States, a large plaster and wood Memorial Arch was erected over Fifth Avenue just north of the park. The temporary plaster and wood arch was so popular that in 1892, a permanent Tuckahoe marble arch, was erected, standing 77 feet (23 m) and modeled after the Arc de Triomphe, built in Paris in 1806. The first fountain next to the arch was completed in 1852 and replaced in 1872. In 1851, it was described as having "a very large circular basin, with a central jet and several side jets." The statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi was unveiled in 1888. In 1918, two statues of George Washington were added to the north side.

Notes
TRIP INTRODUCTON: Set # 1 provides an introduction plus general information. A map is attached as a first reply to this post, please use the link below if you would like to review the other information:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667725-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: To view, access my profile via the link below, then click on the figure behind "# of topics created" for the list of posts:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-profile?usernum=45105

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