Woolworth Building, looking south along Broadway

Lower Manhattan describes the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Generally defined as the area delineated on the north by Chambers Street, on the west by the North River (Hudson River) on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor, also known as Upper New York Bay. Lower Manhattan includes City Hall, the Municipal Building, the Financial District and the site of the World Trade Center.

Historic sites

The area contains many old and historic building and sites, including Castle Garden, originally the fort Castle Clinton, Bowling Green, the old United States Customs House, now the National Museum of the American Indian, Fraunces Tavern, renovated original mercantile buildings of the South Street Seaport (and a modern tourist building), the Fulton Fish Market, Brooklyn Bridge, South Ferry, embarkation point for the Staten Island Ferry and ferries to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and the Woolworth Building, once the tallest in the world.

Extended area

Lower Manhattan would be considered by some to continue somewhat further north than Chambers Street, to Canal Street, in which case it would include the Tribeca area, and parts of Chinatown and Little Italy; or to Houston Street, which would encompass the gallery-laden SoHo, the former Five Points district, the Lower East Side, and the rest of Chinatown and Little Italy.

All of Lower Manhattan is contained in the larger area New Yorkers know as Downtown.