Varick Street

Varick Street

Federal building at 201 Varick Street, home of the Environmental Measurements Laboratory and Village Station post office
Location	Manhattan, New York City
North end	Seventh Avenue
South end	West Broadway

Route map: Bing / Google

Varick Street runs north-south primarily in the Hudson Square district of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Varick Street's northern terminus is in the West Village, where it is a continuation of Seventh Avenue South south of Clarkson Street. It continues downtown through Hudson Square and TriBeCa until it reaches Leonard Street, where it merges with West Broadway. Motor traffic is one-way southbound. Major east-west streets crossed include Houston Street and Canal Street. Approaching Broome Street, the two rightmost lanes of Varick Street are reserved for traffic entering the Holland Tunnel, where backups often occur at rush hour.

Varick Street is named for Richard Varick, an early New York lawmaker and the mayor of New York City from 1789 to 1801, who owned property in the area.

Varick Street was widened during the southward extension of Seventh Avenue in 1917. A number of old buildings were torn down during the widening project, including St. John's Chapel, which facilitated construction of the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line and opened up a new vehicular route between Midtown and lower Manhattan.