6. A Lost Graffiti Exhibit is Hidden Behind the Walls of 11 Spring Street
11 Spring Street, among the neighborhood’s architectural gems, has had quite a storied past. Dating back to around 1888, the building gained the nickname “candle building” for its 60 candled windows. Originally serving as horse stables, 11 Spring Street attracted attention from passersby for its facade and ornately draped windows, though it also made itself a target. For decades, the building’s exterior was the canvas for some of the world’s most famous street artists, who splashed the walls with spray paint, metal, plastic, and all sorts of other materials.
Caroline Cummings and Bill Elias, who purchased the building in 2006, wanted to convert it into residential properties, which would require cleaning up the exterior. To pay homage to the dozens of artists who made the building’s exterior their own, Cummings and Elias decided to take over the inside of the building and cover five floors of walls (30,000 square feet) with art. Nearly 45 artists contributed to the temporary project, including Shepard Fairey and D*Face, a London-based artist who proposed to his fiancée by painting the question on 11 Spring Street. Though much of the art was covered by drywall, the building remains a historic site for arts and culture in the neighborhood.
On the northern edge of Nolita, at the intersection of Bowery and Houston Street, is the Houston Bowery Wall, another remnant of the neighborhood’s graffiti art scene. The famed mural wall has displayed work by notable New York artists ever since Keith Haring created a large mural on it in 1982. Haring was not the first to use the wall for graffiti, but his mural pulled people into the area more than any other. The wall was then acquired by Goldman Properties in 1984, which used it to display advertisements that would constantly be vandalized.
Over two decades later, the wall became a popular art spot again in 2008 when art dealer and curator Jeffrey Deitch was given permission to commission new pieces every six to 12 months. Since then, dozens of street artists have displayed their art on the wall, including Shepard Fairey (who designed the Barck Obama “Hope” poster), Kenny Scharf, and JR (whose installation focused on guns in America). Banksy had a 2018 piece on the wall about the imprisonment of an artist by the Turkish government. Unfortunately, because of high levels of vandalism, the wall’s owners announced a pause on any new murals.