Hess Triangle

In New York City's West Village, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street, you'll find the Hess Triangle, a small triangular mosaic tile set into the sidewalk. This historic curiosity grew out of a legal dispute between the city and the heirs of landowner David M. Hess, who died in 1907. When the city widened Seventh Avenue in the 1910s and tore down buildings, a tiny corner of the property was overlooked during the survey. The heirs used this error to assert their property rights and refused to dedicate the parcel to public use. In 1922, they installed the tile, with an inscription stating that the land was private property never intended for public purposes. The plot, measuring just under 0.2 square meters (about 2 square feet), was sold to the neighboring cigar shop in 1938, which has left the plaque in its original spot to this day. Today, you can still marvel at the tile in the street pavement.