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Washington Square North
Washington Square North, also called "The Row" presents a unified line of Late Classical townhouses along the
northern side of Washington Square Park. In the 1840s, New York City's elite established Washington Square, far from the increasingly commercial environment of Lower
Manhattan, as the address of choice. Anchored by the mansion of William C. Rhinelander at the center of Washington Square North, "the Row" of Greek Revival town houses on
either side of Fifth Avenue presented the unified and dignified appearance of privilege. When the center of New York society moved north after the American Civil War,
the houses on the square came to represent the gentility of a bygone age. Henry James, whose grandmother lived at 18 Washington Square North, brilliantly depicted this
nostalgic view in his 1881 novel, Washington Square. Today, most of the buildings belong to New York University's campus facilities.
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