9. Edgar Allen Poe Worked From Here, Before Temple Court Was Built

Clinton Hall, before it became Temple Court. Image via NYPL

By the 1830s, it was the site of the educational institution Clinton Hall (named after DeWitt Clinton). It housed the vast archives of the Mercantile Library Association’s literary compilations. A huge library, reading rooms and writing spaces filled the hall. Most significantly, Edgar Allen Poe worked away in these writing spaces and started publishing his own newspaper, the Broadway Journal, right out of Clinton Hall itself. In 1832, New York University had its first classes in Clinton Hall as well.