Theatre Alley


Theatre Alley is a block-long cobblestone alley in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, between Ann and Beekman streets. It is one of Manhattan's few alleys that is not privately owned, and prior to construction on the Temple Court Building and Annex adjacent to the alley 2010, it was "dank and claustrophobic".
The alley was named for adjacent Park Theatre, which burned down in 1848. According to Forgotten NY, it was New York's first one-way street, created to alleviate traffic jams caused by horse-drawn carriages arriving at the theater.