New York's Own Downing Street and Winston Churchill Square

Have you ever wanted to travel to England but thought, 'Gee that seems like a lot of work'? Well then head over to New York's very own Downing Street! And as you can see in the post's title, it's complete with, that's right, Winston Churchill Square. Other than those two features, though, it doesn't really resemble England at all. 

Downing Street is a quiet side street in the West Village that spans two blocks before each end feeds onto a busy, big avenue. It doesn't quite run north-south or east-west, but sort of northeast to southwest in an in-between way that is common to many streets in this jumbled area of Manhattan. 

At the northeast corner is 6th Avenue, and at the southwest is Varick Street, which is what 7th Avenue turns into in this area.

Winston Churchill Square is at the corner of Downing and 6th. Here's a look at the corner from the other side of 6th Avenue: 

Winston Churchill Square is a nice little space with lots of trees, plants, and birds, and several benches. The trees shield much of the park from the sky, which can be nice on hot sunny days. 

Congress made Winston Churchill an honorary U.S. citizen, which has only been done for three people. You deserve a lot of money if you know the other two: they are Raoul Wallenberg and the Marquis de Lafayette. 

Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary during the later years of World War II, when it was occupied by the Nazis. Lafayette fought for the U.S. in the Revolutionary War, was friends with several Founding Fathers, and advocated for the freeing of slaves. He also was involved in the French Revolution.   

The square is a very pleasant place to sit and relax. Just try to ignore the sign about pesticide. 

Here's a look across the entrance on Bleecker Street to Father Demo Square across the street, which I wrote about in a previous post. 

Looking out to 6th Avenue:

And across the middle area, with a playground beyond the brick wall:
Here are some more looks inside the square:

I never did see the front of that bird's head, but hopefully he had one and was just giving me the silent treatment. 

Here is a look out the entrance on Downing Street, with the restaurant Cafe Clover on the opposite corner. Its entrance is on Downing Street, and its official address is actually 10 Downing Street.

Before we walk along Downing Street towards Varick Street, there is also this sign at 6th Avenue:

It is left over from when 6th Avenue was named Avenue of the Americas in 1945. 

Downing Street's two blocks are mostly residential, with some interesting buildings along the way. The intersecting street that makes Downing two blocks is Bedford Street. Here's a look at Downing Street near the 6th Avenue corner:

The street mostly has really nice brick buildings that aren't too tall or oppressive, which adds to the pleasant feel of the block. There was a newer-looking building, however, that stuck out in a bad way for me:

At least it's not 20 or 30 stories high, I guess. 

I'm not sure who is or was in charge of this little box on the playground's outer wall along Downing Street, but it's an interesting quirk. 

 It had a calendar showing August 2012, so I guess it's not in current use. Unless they just really like the Albert Einstein quote on the page. It is a good quote.

Also, that seems to be bird poop on the outside of the case, but how did it get on a vertical surface? Does that mean that it isn't bird poop after all? Maybe I'm thinking too much about this. 

Nearby, I liked this brick design:

And a few buildings down there was this stand on the sidewalk:

I hadn't heard of functional neurology, but it sounds useful. According to the American College of Functional Neurology, the field "addresses the interaction of the nervous system with the environment."

Still on the block between 6th and Bedford is a building that seemed to house an art studio. Its exterior had some nice artistic touches to it. 

I found a 2014 article from the Curbed New York website saying that this building was for sale for $12 million. It can be expensive to live on a nice, charming block in this neighborhood. The building goes back to 1829, and apparently Vice President Aaron Burr owned much of this area's land and so likely owned this building's land too.   

Across from this building was another nice one. I especially liked the entrance design.

In this photo we're approaching the intersection with Bedford Street:

On the left is Ditch Plains, which its website says is a 'New York-style oyster bar and fish shack.' 

And across from that is Blue Ribbon Bakery Kitchen, which is a bistro and bakery and in a nice-looking building.

Here's a look at Downing Street from Bedford to Varick:

There are some more nice houses on this block with interesting designs and features. 

This one had a rather distinct face on it:

It just seems to be saying, "Welcome, folks! Come on in!"

I liked the front of this building, including the horse:

There's a bit of an NYU presence on the block:

You may see a blur in the middle of that photo above. A little later I noticed a bug walking along the camera lens, and I think that's probably what that is in the photo. I didn't notice it at the time. I took this shot of it from my phone:

A photo of my camera. I believe that's meta-photography.

Here's another photo that seems to have the bug on it. The buildings are near the NYU facility, a little closer to Varick Street.

Near the Varick Street corner is a Mediterranean/Latin restaurant called Gardenia, plus a nail spa and, yes, a McDonald's.

On the opposite corner is a restaurant called Vien, which has Southeast Asian food. And above it is a bit of street art and graffiti.

 And now we've made it to Varick Street.

One block to the right is the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, along with St. Lukes Place and a great work by Keith Haring at the center's outdoor swimming pool, all of which I have covered in previous posts. Here's a general look in that direction:

And of course there were some birds at the corner keeping watch over things from above.

I hope you enjoyed this look at a nice, mellow street in the West Village. London has the famous Downing Street, but I think New York's is pretty good too. Cheerio.