SoHo NYC History

Before the 17th century (before the 1600s), lower New York was not a major international shipping center in the European colonial sense, but the area was an established Native American trading center. During the colonial period, the land that is now SoHo was part of a grant of farmland given to freed slaves of the Dutch West Indies Company, and the site of the first free Black settlement on Manhattan island.


The development into a significant colonial shipping hub began in the early 1600s with a Dutch settlement. This land was acquired in the 1660s by Augustine Hermann, and then passed to his brother-in-law, Nicholas Bayard.



Originally farmland in the 17th and 18th centuries, the area transformed into a bustling commercial and industrial hub in the 19th century. During this period, many of SoHo’s now-iconic cast-iron buildings were constructed, offering fireproof facades and expansive windows ideal for warehouses and factories.



By the mid-20th century, the area had entered a period of decline. Factories closed, and buildings were left vacant. During this time, city planner Robert Moses proposed the Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX), a ten-lane elevated highway that would have cut through SoHo, demolishing much of the neighborhood.


Enter Jane Jacobs. Jane Jacobs wasn’t a trained architect or urban planner — just a journalist with sharp instincts, a love for cities, and zero patience for soulless mega-projects. She saw what made neighborhoods like SoHo great: walkable streets, mixed-use buildings, artists’ lofts, quirky shops, and people actually living life outside.


Strong community opposition, led by Jane and her neighbors who rallied, protested, and shouted from the rooftops (literally, in some cases). She helped organize the resistance that ultimately crushed the expressway plan in 1969. SoHo was saved — and became a beacon for urban creativity.



With the expressway threat gone and real estate still cheap, George Maciunas saw a great opportunity to execute Fluxus, an international art movement of artists, architects, composers, and designers that emerged in the early 1960s. The movement sought to “purge the world of bourgeois sickness” and commercialized culture by blurring the boundaries between art and everyday life.



He is credited as the “Father of SoHo” for pioneering the conversion of dilapidated industrial lofts in Lower Manhattan into affordable live-work spaces for artists through the Fluxhouse Cooperatives. His efforts helped transform the area into a vibrant arts district.



Artists began moving into SoHo’s abandoned lofts, drawn by the large, light-filled spaces. Though not legally zoned for residential use, these lofts became unofficial studios and homes. SoHo quickly evolved into an artistic haven, attracting figures like Nam June Paik, Twyla Tharp, Donald Judd, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Philip Glass and Chuck Close to name a few. The neighborhood became synonymous with contemporary art and experimental galleries throughout the 1970s.

In the 1980s and ’90s, SoHo underwent rapid gentrification. Luxury boutiques, restaurants, and upscale apartments replaced many of the artist studios and galleries. Today, SoHo is a fashionable destination known for its retail scene and historic charm.