Duffy Square

Coordinates: 40°45′32″N 73°59′7″W / 40.75889°N 73.98528°W / 40.75889; -73.98528
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Father Francis P. Duffy Statue
and Duffy Square
Duffy Square is located in New York City
Duffy Square
Duffy Square is located in New York
Duffy Square
Duffy Square is located in the United States
Duffy Square
LocationTriangle bounded by Broadway, Seventh Ave., W. 45th and W. 47th Streets,
New York, New York
Coordinates40°45′32″N 73°59′7″W / 40.75889°N 73.98528°W / 40.75889; -73.98528
Built1937
ArchitectCharles Keck
Architectural styleClassical Revival
NRHP reference No.01000243
NYSRHP No.06101.011582
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 12, 2001[1]
Designated NYSRHPDecember 8, 2000

Duffy Square, officially named Father Duffy Square in 1939, is the northern triangle of Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded by 45th and 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue. It is now well known for the TKTS reduced-price theater tickets booth located there.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Lowes Lane connected Bloomingdale Road to Eastern Post Road. The west end of the lane was at the modern Duffy Square, and the east end at approximately the modern Third Avenue and 42nd Street. Lowes Lane and Eastern Post Road were suppressed late in the 19th century, but Bloomingdale Road survives under the name of Broadway.

Duffy Square was briefly dominated by a fifty-foot, eight-ton plaster statue entitled Purity (Defeat of Slander) by Leo Lentelli in 1909.[2] Now the square has two statues: a bronze statue of Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York's "Fighting 69th" Infantry Regiment, after whom the square is named, sculpted by Charles Keck, and another statue depicting composer, playwright, producer and actor George M. Cohan, by sculptor Georg J. Lober.[3] The statue of Duffy was dedicated by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia on May 2, 1937, who also signed the law authorizing the renaming of the square to "Father Duffy Square" on March 29, 1939; on June 13 of that year, the street signs were changed.[4] The statue of Duffy and the square itself were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[1]

Gallery

Duffy Square in 1905 (Times Square), Broadway (left side), 7th Ave (right side) facing North. The Budweiser billboard is now TKTS Booth in Times Square
  • Lowes Lane meets Bloomingdale Road, 1820
    Lowes Lane meets Bloomingdale Road, 1820
  • A 1904 photo of north end of Times Square before the creation of Duffy Square
    A 1904 photo of north end of Times Square before the creation of Duffy Square
  • Defeat of Slander statue
    Defeat of Slander statue
  • The red steps behind the statue of Father Duffy are the roof of the TKTS booth
    The red steps behind the statue of Father Duffy are the roof of the TKTS booth
  • Ferris wheel under construction, August 2021
    Ferris wheel under construction, August 2021

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ "Statue of Purity for Times Square". The New York Times. October 5, 1909. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  3. ^ "Georg J. Lober, 69, Sculptor is Dead; Ex-Head of Art Commission Here--Did Cohan Statue". The New York Times. December 15, 1961. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
  4. ^ Staff (June 13, 1939) "Duffy Sq, Signs To Be Put Up Today" The New York Times

External links

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