15 Century-Old Photos of SPURA Before it Became SPURA

For going on half a century, the vacant blocks of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) are the virtual opposite of the Lower East Side they replaced. Once crowded with tenements and human activity, the SPURA blocks are now a static anomaly in Manhattan. Unable to ever come to a compromise about proposed uses and affordable housing, generations of political leaders have found the safest path to be the course of non-action. Community Board 3 will be voting tonight on whether it approves of a mixed-use approval for the blocks south of Delancey Street and east of Essex. To mark the occasion, we present a look back at the streets of SPURA before they were cleared, when they were part of New York.
· SPURA coverage [Curbed]