NoHo

NoHo, for North of Houston Street (as contrasted with SoHo, South of Houston) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, roughly bounded by Houston Street on the south, The Bowery on the east, Astor Place on the north, and Mercer St. on the west. NoHo is wedged between Greenwich Village, west of Mercer St., and the East Village, with SoHo, Little Italy and Nolita to its south. NoHo is primarily made up of loft apartments, which in turn makes it one of the most expensive and desirable neighborhoods in Manhattan. Its small size and central location and access to multiple east side and west side subway lines also contributes to a high demand, again keeping prices high.

History
When Lafayette Street was opened in the 1820s, it was one of the most fashionable streets in New York: the only survivor of that era is half of the original Colonnade Row, 1833, perhaps designed by Alexander Jackson Davis for speculative builder Seth Geer. Across from it is The Public Theater. When it was a light manufacturing and warehouse district, Robert Mapplethorpe's loft was in NoHo.

Preservation
From the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report: The NoHo Historic District, which comprises approximately 125 buildings, represents the period of New York City's commercial history from the early 1850s to the 1910s, when this section prospered as one of its major retail and wholesale dry goods centers. Acclaimed architects were commissioned to design ornate store and loft buildings in popular architectural styles, providing a rich fabric against which shoppers promenaded, looked at display windows, and bought goods, and merchants sold products. The district also contains early-nineteenth century houses, nineteenth- and twentieth-century institutional buildings, turn-of-the-century office buildings, as well as modest twentieth-century commercial structures, all of which testify to each successive phase in the development of the historic district. Today, the effect is of powerful and unifying streetscapes of marble, cast-iron, limestone, brick, and terracotta facades.

The NoHo Historic District was designated by the LPC in 1999 and expanded in 2008. Additionally, another district in the neighborhood, the NoHo East Historic District, was created in 2003. All three of these designations came as a result of the organizing and advocacy efforts of numerous local community and preservation groups, including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and together, they form a contiguous area of landmarked buildings over 21 city blocks.

Other uses of the term
The term NoHo is being incorrectly used now in London, UK. Coined by real estate agents in 2006-2007, NoHo in London is simply a rebranded Fitzrovia. It should be noted, though, that this usage is strongly opposed by local residents.