SoHo and Tribeca: the cast-iron downtown
Greene Street's columned facades, the cobbles, and the quiet warehouse blocks of Tribeca. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Greene Street
Start here for the densest run of cast-iron architecture in the city — whole facades of moulded columns and cornices, painted to look like stone. Walk down the middle of the cobbles and look up the whole way.

2. Prince and Mercer Streets
The retail heart of SoHo, the iron-front buildings now holding chain stores at street level and galleries above. The architecture is the reason to be here, not the shops.

3. Canal Street crossing
The seam between SoHo and Tribeca. The crowds and the counterfeit-watch tables drop away as you cross south; the streets go quiet within a block.

4. Tribeca cobbled blocks
South of Canal the warehouses turn residential — converted loft buildings, Belgian-block streets, far fewer people. Wander; the quiet is the point and the blocks reward aimlessness.

5. Duane Park
A small triangle of green left from the old produce-and-butter market that filled these streets. A bench, a few trees, the lofts looking down on it. The calmest spot on the walk.

6. Franklin and Chambers Streets
The southern edge, quiet residential blocks that the film festival takes over each spring. Chambers St for the 1/2/3 home is a couple of minutes on.

SoHo and Tribeca: the cast-iron downtown